As workers push to unionize, food companies shut down their worksites
Last month, workers at a Chipotle in Augusta, Maine, announced that they intended to form a union — the first of the chain’s roughly 3,000 locations to do so. This week, Chipotle said it will close the store permanently. The move came the same week that Amy’s Kitchen, the vegetarian frozen-food company that has reportedly been fighting attempts by its workers to unionize, announced that it’s closing the San Jose, California, factory where workers complained of “unrelenting managers, poor working conditions, and demanding production mandates.” (No paywall)
In blow to workers, labor board proposes redefining joint-employer standard
The National Labor Relations Board will publish a proposed rule Friday that would change its definition of a joint employer. The move would reverse an Obama-era decision that had made it easier to hold parent companies, such as restaurant chains, accountable for the labor violations of franchisees.
McDonald’s settles labor suit
Up against a Monday deadline, Trump’s appointee for general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board negotiated a settlement in a lawsuit between two dozen workers and McDonald’s. The settlement means McDonald’s will avoid a verdict that could have dramatically shifted the relationship between workers and franchise restaurant chains.