We have written before about the NLRB's efforts to adopt a "joint employer" doctrine. Specifically, the Board seems bound and determined to eliminate the legal distinction between franchisors and franchisees, at least with respect to who is the employer of the franchisee's employees
Essentially, the Board appears on the verge of creating a legal fiction under federal labor law that the franchisee and franchisor "jointly employ" the franchisee's employees. You can see where this is going. If a franchisee's employees are joint employees of the franchisee and franchisor, then unions can attempt to represent all of the employees of single franchisor and force the franchisor to sit at the negotiating table.
You have probably been following this complex issue. But the implications that would flow from a ruling for the unions are not always the easiest to explain. Now, along comes the public radio program Marketplace. During Friday's programming, Marketplace broadcasted a relatively balanced piece on the issue and its potential implications–all in plain English! I highly recommend a listen.
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