The New York Times reported today in its business section in article by Steven Greenhouse, who covers labor matters for the paper, about a convention taking place in Addison. The convention is underwritten by the Service Employees International Union or SEIU, which has been not very quietly backing the “Stand for Fifteen,” movement in its quest for wages of $15 per hour in the fast food field. It is probably not a coincidence that Addison is just four miles from McDonald’s headquarters in Oak Brook, Il.
While most of last week’s focus in labor relations law was on the NLRB’s decision in Macy’s, finding a micro-unit consisting of just the cosmetics and fragrance sales employees at the chain’s Saugus MA store to be an appropriate unit for an NLRB election and collective bargaining, the Times article points to the other side of the coin: the NLRB’s consideration of whether franchisees and franchisors are joint employers and/or common integrated enterprises. Such findings would likely increase the pressure on and more greatly involve franchisors in union organizing and other claims involving the employees of their franchisees. With today’s Labor Board, it is a pretty safe bet that the NLRB will be finding more and more joint employer relationships to exist.