Posted on 08/28/2015 9:20:29 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
You can rightly complain about the things which go on inside the White House, the State Department, the Justice Department or the EPA and all of the headline grabbing controversies which erupt from them. None of them, however, may be up to nearly as much mischief as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) though it doesn’t seem to catch the attention of the media nearly as much. This week they were at it again and while a bit on the wonky side, a new wrinkle in the rules could spell big trouble for America’s employers and many, many workers.
The decision in question came in the case of waste management firm Browning-Ferris. The board has found that they can be held liable for the actions and policies of subcontractors providing services to them and even be forced to negotiate with the big labor unions on behalf of those workers, treating them as a “joint employer” of the subcontracted or franchise employees.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Thursday handed down one of its biggest decisions of President Obama’s tenure, ruling that companies can be held responsible for labor violations committed by their contractors.
While the ruling from the independent agency specifically deals with the waste management firm Browning-Ferris, the so-called “joint employer” decision could have broad repercussions for the business world, particularly for franchise companies.
Opponents of the action warn the ruling could hurt businesses as diverse as restaurants, retailers, manufacturers and construction firms, as well as hotels, cleaning services and staffing agencies.
There are two different, primary areas of concern here, both of which will be hit hard by this ruling. One is the ubiquitous presence of subcontracting companies and temporary personnel agencies who provide direct support to employers by taking on specific, often short term tasks or providing workers on a temporary basis to fill specific talent requirements. These show up in almost every industry you’d care to name. A second class of businesses which will fall under this are companies which engage franchise owners to carry their brand, but who operate largely as their own independent outlets. (The biggest example is McDonald’s, which actually owns and operates less than 20 percent of the restaurants you see. The rest are all franchises.) In each case, the direct employer of the workers is held responsible for their own policies and any negotiations with their workers.
But under this new definition of “joint employer” the main corporation using the services of these subcontractors or leasing out franchise rights can be forced into union negotiations (and sued) relating to the employees of other companies and for things which take place totally outside of their control. As Daniel Fischer at Forbes points out, this could spell the end of the line for many employers.
In so doing, the board’s Democratic majority reversed several decades of practice where companies had to exercise “direct and immediate” control over workers with a new regime in which regulators will examine each case for signs a company has the potential to affect pay and working conditions. It will have a large impact on how franchisers like McDonald’s do business, since they can potentially be held liable for hiring and firing decisions by any of their thousands of individual franchisees and even routine business decisions will be examined in light of how they affect union organizing efforts.
“If this goes into effect then the franchiser has to step in and have a standard for hiring, human resources, payroll, everything,” said Jania Bailey, a board member of the International Franchising Association and chief executive of FranNet, a consulting firm that matches franchisees and franchisors. “It basically nullifies this independent business model.”
This is a pretty clever move by the NLRB. If their goal is to get the fingers of the big labor unions into every nook and cranny of business, there isn’t a much better way to do it. Now, under this new standard, if an employer is judged as having “the potential” to affect wages and working conditions at a franchise outlet or staffing agency, they can be held liable and immediately be forced into negotiations with the Teamsters or whoever else has their thumb on the scale for that type of operation. So how will the larger employers respond? Probably by cutting ties with those companies. Why take the risk if the benefits of bringing in such help are outweighed by the potential union hassles?
This could wind up costing God only knows how many jobs. Of course, that doesn’t seem to be a priority for the NLRB, so it’s all good I suppose.
Hmm, effectively making small businesses into large ones so as to get the unions in the door. Another “law” written by extra-congressional shadow bureaucracy.
Not entirely a new concept. Robert Reich, when he was Clinton’s Secretary of Labor, was small business hostile and floated the idea of forcing small businesses to merge. I assume so that they would be easier for FedGov to control.
So every employee of McDonalds , Wendy’s, Subway, etc. Instead of being employees of the local franchise, they will also be employees of the corporation now. I see that this can upset the apple cart regarding how the corporate structure of the franchises are set up.
I can see a parallel with Stalin calling farmers “Kulaks”, then executing them for being profitable.
But Stalin <—> bo, so no surprise.
and easier to unionize.
Destroying America one ruling at a time.
Well, there goes my business model for “Wetback Industries”. It was supposed to specialize in construction/demolition/landscaping/hauling and similar activities. I was going to sell local franchises.
May I just take an aside for a moment and ask why the **** we even have a National Labor Relations Board?
“Robert Reich, when he was Clinton’s Secretary of Labor, was small business hostile”
So is the EPA. For 20 years they tried everything they could think of to force us to sell our small, independent water company.
...the main corporation using the services of these subcontractors or leasing out franchise rights can be forced into union negotiations (and sued) relating to the employees of other companies and for things which take place totally outside of their control.IOW, subcontractors will be hired based on whether their employees are unionized -- further crushing the prospects for unionized employees. That's part of the Democratic Party plan -- no organizations (unions, churches, PACs, the Boy Scouts) will be tolerated in their future Single Party State.
it will not stand. it flys in the face of trillions of words of contract precedence.
it is grandstanding at it’s worst.
Obama needs to FO
He is getting far too big for his black mandated britches
I foresee a major legal action...
A perfect opportunity for a GOP presidential candidate to sweep in with a rollback proposal.
But given Trump’s long experience with unions, would he do that? And are the actions of any of the other candidates even relevant at this moment?
ping!
Just another bureaucracy gone wild. Nothing to see here. Move along!
As demonstrated in this under 4 minute video...(drum roll!)
PERPETUAL MOTION HAS FINALLY BEEN ACHIEVED!!
And, wonder of wonders, GOVERNMENT has done it!
Every living organism is driven by two primal instincts: Self preservation and reproduction (sex). The sex part probably explains why so many well compensated (OXYMORON ALERT!) “GOVERNMENT WORKERS” spend hours a day watching porn on their taxpayer furnished computers.
The self preservation thing can be observed each and every election when huge numbers of these “government workers” repair to the polls to vote for the candidates (virtually ALWAYS Democrats) promising to, at worst, do nothing to cut the numbers of “government workers” or, at best (which is most often the case), INCREASE the numbers of “government workers”.
VOILA: PERPETUAL MOTION IS A REALITY!!
Now, if you are not happy about this, please ask yourself which of the candidates for president all the way down to your local town council will shove a large monkey wrench into this freedom destroying, bankruptcy producing juggernaut to HELL then support him or her.
Better hurry. We’re about out of time!
(Here endeth the personal rant!)
And, yes, this HAS been around before but watch it again as a refresher!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/xOAgT8L_BqQ
“”I was going to sell local franchises.””
You’ve never heard - strike while the iron is hot?
That will teach you to procrastinate....
It happened in Missoula MT, Mountain Water Co, eminent domain.
“...That will teach you to procrastinate.......”
I learned a lot from my previous franchise effort, One of These Days. I had a lot of interest. But I never got all the paperwork together and no one was in a real hurry to sign up.
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