Chris Giarla, the owner of 14 St. Louis-area McDonald’s franchises, weighed in with his opinion on the recent NLRB decision regarding McDonald’s joint employer status. Giarla contends that the NRLB’s decision is a “commonsense” approach to labor. Who is this commonsense to?
This decision creates definitions for who is responsible for a worker’s well-being when they’re on the clock in situations where they work for the franchise of a larger corporation. Previously, under President Obama’s NLRB, corporations like McDonald’s were on the hook for workers whom the franchise wrongs. The new NLRB decision lets McDonald’s corporate dodge its responsibilities to its workers.
McDonald’s workers suffer from retaliatory firings, union-busting, sexual harassment, systemic racism, workplace violence, and incredibly low wages. Frances Holmes, a McDonald’s worker and leader in the Fight for $15 in St. Louis, made a compelling case regarding all of these difficulties and more in her recent article in The St Louis American.
McDonald’s must be held accountable for the well-being and safety of their workers. The commonsense of big business won’t do. We need to listen to the common sense of the workers themselves
Matt Bernico
St. Louis
