Posted on 03/31/2015 6:17:15 AM PDT by Zhang Fei
The federal government has said in a major, closely watched lawsuit that McDonald's Corp. violated workers' union rights at its individual franchise restaurants. What officials haven't said is exactly how the corporation did this since it didn't actually employ the workers, the franchise owners did.
To win the case, the government will have to prove that McDonald's is a "joint employer" of the workers with the franchises — a concept that runs counter to very understanding of what a franchise is: a legally separate entity that merely rents out the parent corporation's trademarks.
The actual charging documents by National Labor Relations Board, the federal labor law enforcement agency, do not explain how the corporation is a joint employer, merely asserting that it is one. In response, McDonald's filed a "motion for bill of particulars," demanding the board lay out its case.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Because I said so.....
“Obama’s NLRB appears to be trying to put an end to the franchise model.”
It would be another way of suppressing small business and the American entrepreneurial spirit.
It is interesting McDonalds is a Chicago based corporation. It has been under attack by the Obama’s from the beginning of the administration beginning with Michelle making the company the poster child for child obesity. Perhaps McDonald’s didn’t contribute to the proper causes and candidates.
The renewed push seems to coincide with McDonalds firing its first black CEO, after a string of sales and earnings misses. The poor performance may not have been entirely his fault, the fast food industry has been under assault by the left throughout the Obama administration so the administrations’s war against fast food may have inadvertently taken the CEO as a casualty.
Ironically the wealthiest person in my neighborhood is black and owns several McDonalds franchises. He started as an hourly minimum wage worker in the store, worked his way up in the organization, bought his first franchise, and is living the American dream. This is the kind of story our President should be celebrating.
“Vee vill show you the evidence after vee haf executed you.”
More accurately, Obama's NLRB is trying to put an end to jobs for people who desire to work but have limited skills and experience.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Kroc
Joan Kroc was a major league liberal. I think it’s more an attempt to pay off the black community, which forms a major part of MCD’s work force. Obama’s a race man, first and foremost.
Often, it is simply a matter of tying the wrongdoing to an entity that has more money so the richer company (or person) can be milked. If the legal definition of a franchise is hacked up, so be it. Bottom line is ‘win the case.’
If so, then is this an attempt to redefine franchises so that all of the employees of all of the individual franchises are considered as a group so that franchises now come under the Obamacare mandate?
Inevitable. My local convenience store has a sandwich section with several touchscreens. You can dither in front of the touchscreen figuring out if you want mayo or vinegar and oil on your sandwich without taking up a human's time. When you're done, it prints out your order for the preparer, you pay for it, and then wait for her to call out your number.
“McDonald’s orders 7,000 touchscreen kiosks to replace cashiers”
I stopped in a McDonalds yesterday to potty, and then considered buying a snack while there. I stood in line for about 60 seconds...realized the minimum-wagers behind the counter looked just as forlorn and disheveled as the weird customers on my side of the counter...really got kind of spooked...and left.
The franchise model is a very positive one. It makes for more local ownership and allows folks who wouldn’t, other than for having the money to invest, be equipped to own their own business on such a level.
A classic case of unintended consequences if liberals were to be successful in diminishing their prevalence.
Forcing all employees under one corporate umbrella makes them much easier to unionize. All that is needed is some pressure from their friends in Washington. I suspect this process is already well underway at Walmart.
That's what they are really after right there, setting a precedent, so they can open the door to the unions in every franchise. Between right-to-work laws and the unions killing off non-service industries, this is the only gambit unions have left to save themselves, going after minimum wage workers they couldn't be bothered with before.
CORRECT !
And Paid Time Off, and Family Medical Leave, and the ability or organize as a collective union.
Between amnesty and this kind of activism, Obama Leftists will assure that very few low-skill Americans actually work.
And that’s just the outcome they want: dependency breeds ferocious statist support.
Sarah Leberstein, senior attorney with National Employment Law Project, agreed, saying that making a corporation liable for any violations would boost workers’ rights and that was reason enough.
“If only the undercapitalized franchisee is on the hook for any labor violations, workers often have no real remedy when they don’t get the pay that they are owed or when they are fired for exercising their protected right to organize,” she said.
See post #17; what you said straight out of the horse’s mouth.
Right! I remember a case in Florida about a bumper car ride at an amusement park. A guy in a car rammed a woman’s car head on. She sued the guy, her happened to be her fiance, the ride operators, the amusement park owners and the ride manufacturer.
The ride had signs forbidding head-on bumps, so the operators and the park were found only10% at fault. The fiance had no money so the ride manufacturer ended up with 90% of the payment of the award to the girl.
Frivolous lawsuits won’t end until there is no one left in business to sue.
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