Federal regulators are looking at policy changes that would streamline the process for unionizing the employees of restaurants and other businesses.
In this week’s edition of Working Lunch, Align Public Strategies principals Joe Kefauver and Franklin Coley examine the particulars of a proposal currently before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to permit what’s known as the card-check process. If a majority of a company’s workforce sign cards declaring their preference for organizing, the team is instantly represented by a union; no vote is necessary.
Opponents say the process doesn’t provide sufficient time for management to make its case for keeping the business union-free. They also predict that the set-up will expose workers to pressure from union-favoring co-workers to sign the cards, since the cards replace secret ballots. The team can determine exactly who’s for the union and who prefers not to be represented.
Kefauver and Coley also look at a resolution from McDonald’s shareholders to conduct an audit of the burger giant’s policies on civil rights and what the SEC’s approval of that proposal could mean for other public restaurant companies.
As always, they wrap up with Align’s proprietary legislative scorecard, a quick look at government developments from around the country that could have an impact on the restaurant business.
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