But the NLRB surely has to rank among the most sinister:
The Obama administration is redefining what it means to be an employer.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.“This decision has broad implications, as it appears to upend decades of settled law defining who the employer is under the National Labor Relations Act,” said Randy Johnson, a senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Restaurants could see the biggest changes. Fast food chains such as McDonald’s and Burger King will likely assert more authority over — or even cut ties altogether with — local franchise owners, business advocates say.
At issue in the case was whether Browning-Ferris was responsible for the treatment of contracted employees. The Houston-based company hired Leadpoint Business Services to staff a recycling facility in California.
The labor board determined Browning-Ferris should be considered a "joint employer" with the Phoenix-based staffing agency. As a result, the company can be pulled into collective bargaining negotiations with those employees and held liable for any labor violations committed against them.
The NLRB ruling is a sharp departure from previous decisions that stated companies were only responsible for employees who were under their direct control. Without the power to set hours, wages or job responsibilities, the earlier rulings held, companies could not be held responsible for the labor practices of the contractors.
But the National Labor Relations Board charted a new course Thursday, saying the old standard is “increasingly out of step with changing economic circumstances.”
As someone whose income streams are nearly all of an independent-contractor nature, this is chilling stuff indeed.
It's also antiquated thinking. To believe that in the world of 2015, with everything moving as it is to micro-level provision of human effort, "the man" is out there gunning for ways to exploit "the worker" is to ignore facts on the ground.
Ignoring facts on the ground seems to be a common theme running through most developments these days, does it not?
Management has been "outsourcing" their liability and risk for decades now. What they used to accept responsibility for they now shun, to their considerable betterment and often the detriment of the greater numbers. How is it that one of the big players in the temp industry is right here in Columbus, IN? Which used to house what, 3 or 4 Fortune 500 companies. The rise of the gig economy has not been good for many human beings compared to how we had it before. Do you call the virtual decimation of the so-called "rust belt," much of which was i Indiana and the laying to waste of their once vibrant small town economies a good thing? Was it so bad before? You can't get away with "everything" you want to do for your betterment. Deal with it! And I'm sure you will be on unto my demise for sure.
ReplyDeleteA manufacturing company - any kind of business, for that matter, is going to locate operations where it is most profitable to do so. End of story.
ReplyDeleteI'm unclear what you mean by "accept responsibility for."