Law in Contemporary Society

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PatrickMarrisFirstEssay 5 - 07 Apr 2018 - Main.PatrickMarris
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The Future of Joint Employers

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<		The Save Local Business Act is not yet law. It may never be. But the Federal government is nevertheless working to curtail labor protections and shape policy relating to joint employers. Peter Robb, Trump's appointee as general counsel for the NLRB, has already begun settling an NLRB case against McDonald's for abuses of workers - a case distinct from the judicial action already discussed - in which the NLRB has invested 150 days of trial. Though the prior settlement was viewed as positive step for workers's rights, a settlement in the administrative case would be viewed - at least by Sharon Block and Benjamin Sachs of Harvard Law School - as "abandoning . . . a groundbreaking inquiry into whether a major employer like McDonald's should be held accountable for violating the rights of its low-paid workers." Such a question, according to labor activists, deserves the attention of a judge. And though with the recent overruling of Hy-Brand Industrial the NLRB has reverted to the Browning-Ferris standard, Trump will appoint a fifth member to the Board in 2018, thus creating a Republican majority. With this majority, Trump's NLRB can "engage[] in a full-fledged legal assault on unions that's poised to wreak havoc on collective bargaining" by dismantling the worker-friendly joint employer standard.
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>		The Save Local Business Act is not yet law. It may never be. But the Federal government is nevertheless working to curtail labor protections and shape policy relating to joint employers. Peter Robb, Trump's appointee as general counsel for the NLRB, has already begun settling an NLRB case against McDonald's for abuses of workers - a case distinct from the judicial action already discussed - in which the NLRB has invested 150 days of trial. Though the prior settlement was viewed as a positive step for workers's rights, a settlement in the administrative case would be viewed - at least by Sharon Block and Benjamin Sachs of Harvard Law School - as "abandoning . . . a groundbreaking inquiry into whether a major employer like McDonald's should be held accountable for violating the rights of its low-paid workers." Such a question, according to labor activists, deserves the attention of a judge. And though with the recent overruling of Hy-Brand Industrial the NLRB has reverted to the Browning-Ferris standard, Trump will appoint a fifth member to the Board in 2018, thus creating a Republican majority. With this majority, Trump's NLRB can "engage[] in a full-fledged legal assault on unions that's poised to wreak havoc on collective bargaining" by dismantling the worker-friendly joint employer standard.
 With the NLRB and Congress working diligently for the interests of McDonald's, Walmart, and other mega-corporations and with a wildly anti-worker president, even in the event the Save Local Business Act is never enacted, the future for workers at low-wage franchises is not certain. But with the current landscape and political realignment imminent, that future is bleak.

Revision 5r5 - 07 Apr 2018 - 17:39:55 - PatrickMarris
Revision 4r4 - 03 Mar 2018 - 17:34:27 - PatrickMarris
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