W Post: A big union wants to help the owners of your local Arby’s and Wendy’s to organize, too

[Omaha Steve]

Maybe Burger King owners need bargaining power, too. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/01/the-seiu-wants-to-help-the-owners-of-your-local-arbys-and-wendys-to-organize-too/

By Lydia DePillis May 1

From the outside, it would appear that labor unions are at war with the franchise industry: They're waging nationwide protests in front of McDonalds and Burger King. They've filed hundreds of complaints with the National Labor Relations Board, and are pushing to get the big companies designated as "joint employers" with their franchises.

But unions and franchises actually have some common goals: Both want big companies to give more power to their local affiliates, so the franchises can be run more profitably, and the workers can be paid more. As former McDonalds franchisee Kathryn Slater-Carter argued last year, franchisees often struggle just to pay their franchise fees and keep up with mandatory renovations, which means they usually don't have much left over to raise wages.

That's why the Coalition of Franchise Associations, which represents 16 associations that have 35,000 franchise members among them, has joined up with the Service Employees International Union to push legislation that would strengthen franchisees' legal rights. The SEIU launched a Web site yesterday to highlight ways in which franchisees struggle to stay profitable. (In general, it's hard to generalize what franchisees think; an SEIU-commissioned survey found that many of them are economically insecure, while the Franchise Business Times found 82.2 percent of franchisees approved of their franchisor. The International Franchise Association, the main lobby for franchisors, has not signed on.)

"While we have different goals, some of the solutions to our goals intersect," said Keith Miller, president of the CFA, on a press call yesterday with the SEIU. "It’s no secret that SEIU seeks to enhance workers’ pay. But they realize that if our efforts on behalf of franchises fail, then there’s really no way for them to achieve their goal."

FULL story at link.