Sinema “Teased” That She Will Vote To Overturn the NLRB’s Planned Joint Employer Rule, Which Would Help Workers Hold Big Corporations Like McDonalds and Amazon Accountable
Yesterday, Bloomberg Law reported that Kyrsten Sinema “teased” that she will vote to overturn the National Labor Relations Board’s planned rule on joint employers, which would help workers hold big corporations accountable. Sinema made the comments at an event sponsored by the International Franchise Association, which opposes the rule.
As Bloomberg reports, “The NLRB’s joint-employment framework determines when companies share liability for unfair labor practices and legal obligations to bargain with certified unions.”
The revised standard would revive a 2015 decision that was overturned during the Trump administration. It would primarily impact franchises such as McDonalds as well as companies like Amazon who outsource their workforce to temporary staffing agencies and contractors. The rule has major implications for labor and workers’ rights.
OnLabor further explains: “‘Lead’ firms often franchise their businesses or contract out work to third-party staffing agencies that directly employ workers. Deciding whether those workers can force the lead firm to bargain with their union or hold a lead firm liable for many types of labor law violations can turn on whether the NLRB considers the lead firm to be a joint employer of the workers.”
Sinema’s record is littered with instances of protecting corporations and siding with business interests over workers: she has stood in the way of the PRO Act, which would protect the right of workers to unionize; she blocked a Labor Department nominee because he supported higher wages for gig workers; she blocked President Biden’s Labor Secretary Julie Su, an outspoken advocate for workers rights; and who could forget her ‘thumbs down’ to raising the minimum wage?
“Sinema couldn’t be any more clear: she supports big corporate bosses over the rights of workers,” said Sacha Haworth, spokesperson for Replace Sinema. “Sinema wants to make it harder for workers to improve their working conditions or get higher wages, because she’s in cahoots with the corporate lobbyists who write checks to her political campaigns. She then uses the money to go on vacation to Paris and eat at the fanciest restaurants and drink the most expensive wine. It’s clear that Arizonans deserve better.”
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