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Labor's big comeback -- Politico
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/labor-comeback-113735After a brutal battering in the midterms, organized labor will conclude 2014 with the wind at its back — thanks to two out-of-the-way corners of the Obama administration whose default posture in recent memory has been paralysis.
...
On Friday, NLRB General Counsel Richard Griffin, following through on a policy shift he announced in July, issued a consolidated complaint against McDonald’s. For the first time, the Oak Brook, Ill.-based corporation is being held jointly responsible for alleged labor-law violations committed by its franchisees — a clear victory for McDonald’s food workers and for the Service Employees International Union, which for more than two years has organized protests on their behalf.
...
Meanwhile, over at the Labor Department, the Wage and Hour Division’s collection of back pay has risen by more than a third under Obama, and man-hours dedicated to enforcement are up by half. A misclassification initiative was launched in response to the 2010 finding by Vice President Joe Biden’s Task Force on the Middle Class that 10 percent to 30 percent of all workers are considered independent contractors to avoid providing benefits and protections required under federal law, even though the workers met the legal definition of employees.
Much of the impetus for these changes has come from David Weil, a Boston University economist who — first as a consultant to Wage and Hour (initially hired under President George W. Bush) and, since May, Wage and Hour administrator — pressed the division to target enforcement efforts on industry sectors where wage theft is most common: restaurants, hotels, construction, janitorial services, agriculture, retail and manufacturing. Now businesses are bracing themselves for a proposed rule due early next year that is expected to at least partly reverse a long-term decline in the percentage of U.S. workers to whom employers must pay time-and-a-half when they work more than 40 hours a week.
...
On Friday, NLRB General Counsel Richard Griffin, following through on a policy shift he announced in July, issued a consolidated complaint against McDonald’s. For the first time, the Oak Brook, Ill.-based corporation is being held jointly responsible for alleged labor-law violations committed by its franchisees — a clear victory for McDonald’s food workers and for the Service Employees International Union, which for more than two years has organized protests on their behalf.
...
Meanwhile, over at the Labor Department, the Wage and Hour Division’s collection of back pay has risen by more than a third under Obama, and man-hours dedicated to enforcement are up by half. A misclassification initiative was launched in response to the 2010 finding by Vice President Joe Biden’s Task Force on the Middle Class that 10 percent to 30 percent of all workers are considered independent contractors to avoid providing benefits and protections required under federal law, even though the workers met the legal definition of employees.
Much of the impetus for these changes has come from David Weil, a Boston University economist who — first as a consultant to Wage and Hour (initially hired under President George W. Bush) and, since May, Wage and Hour administrator — pressed the division to target enforcement efforts on industry sectors where wage theft is most common: restaurants, hotels, construction, janitorial services, agriculture, retail and manufacturing. Now businesses are bracing themselves for a proposed rule due early next year that is expected to at least partly reverse a long-term decline in the percentage of U.S. workers to whom employers must pay time-and-a-half when they work more than 40 hours a week.
The Presidential appointment power goes much farther than the Supreme Court. The people a President picks to run the second- and third-tier Executive positions like these are the ones who actually implement policies.
