The NLRB’s move toward quorum hit another snag
NLRB nominee and current Boeing Chief Labor Counsel Scott Mayer can’t catch a break in the confirmation process. He was presumed to be advancing toward a full Senate vote soon after Boeing’s St. Louis strike resolved, and Sen. Josh Hawley had cooled his public opposition.
Everything appeared to be set for Mayer’s advancement in a scheduled Senate HELP Committee meeting late Thursday afternoon, but another delay occurred that remains officially unexplained. Yet Semafor Congressional Bureau chief Burgess Everett reported that Sen. Bernie Sanders stalled Mayer’s vote to protest Gwynne Wilcox’s Board firing.
This Sanders stunt initially pushed the Senate into recess for an hour, which turned into a longer delay and a committee spokesperson explaining to Bloomberg that Mayer will get that hearing vote “in the near future.”
An AI cautionary tale that also entertains
This week’s buffet of AI developments includes an anecdote from bestselling author Mark Schaefer. The renowned marketing consultant admitted to being one of thousands of people who were fooled by a deepfake video that purported to show Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivering one of his trademark inspirational talks. Yet this was a crypto-scam event, and the video was an AI-rendered forgery that had hijacked search ranking and social visibility, which prompted Schaefer to warn that “authenticity in branding now demands proof.”
The lessons here include how some platforms aren’t using their existing technology to verify the truth and weed out scams, so not only must users beware, but companies must realize that these types of intricate AI fakes are unfortunately part of the competition.
Fast Food franchisees could receive legislative relief
The labor lab of California recently went the extra mile to strain business owners’ bottom lines with legislation that dramatically boosted minimum wage. This left franchisees with little financial recourse, which led to them buckling down on labor costs and leaning further into automation. The same effect hit when Biden’s version of the NLRB issued rules increasing franchisor liability, including by changing the definition of joint employment.
These challenges threatened the existence of franchise business models, but now, positive change might be afoot with true bipartisan support in the U.S. House for the realities of running a business.
The American Franchise Act would clarify that franchisors would only be considered joint employers if they hold “direct and immediate” control over workplace issues including wages, benefits, safety rules, or hiring. At present, the legislation has at least 13 Democratic House cosponsors along with 26 Republicans. Keep those fingers crossed for further cooperation because what’s good for franchisors helps franchisees stay in business.
A so-called “Salting” school has opened
This month, the “Inside Organizer School” began training union activists to infiltrate businesses with the intent of organizing while also deceiving their coworkers. And if you guessed that notorious Starbucks Workers United salt Jaz Brisack was involved, you would be correct.
The “school”–which is headquarted in NYC but will hold day-long sessions in California, Washington, and Minnesota–claims no official union affiliation and calls itself “a collective of experienced organizers.” However, it’s hard to believe that Big Labor isn’t secretly footing the bill since it’s “free of cost” for students to attend classes while receiving meals and training materials.
Meanwhile, the Start Applying Labor Transparency (SALT) Act remains under U.S. House consideration. If enacted, the law would require union salts to file the same disclosure forms that employer consultants must file with the Department of Labor, so that workers would always know when someone is being paid to persuade them.
The NLRB wants the Ninth Circuit to move on Cemex
More than a year after the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments on Cemex Construction Materials Pacific LLC, the current Board is asking for a decision to support a signature ruling from Biden’s NLRB.
This week, the NLRB pushed for a resolution, but it remains a mystery why acting General Counsel Bill Cowen supports upholding Cemex since a GOP-majority board would likely overrule the standard. Additionally, the Ninth Circuit’s judges expressed skepticism on applying Cemex, which is considered by employers to be a significant overreach that lowers the standard for remedial bargaining orders versus the Gissel standard.
Meanwhile, the D.C. Circuit has heard oral arguments in NP Red Rock LLC vs. NLRB with judges leaning toward using Gissel rather than Cemex to issue a bargaining order for a Las Vegas casino. In that case as well, the Board asked the D.C. Circuit to uphold Cemex, but Biden-nominated Judge Florence Pan also voiced skepticism while calling it “superfluous” to use Cemex rather than to apply Gissel if that standard is met.
Will 2026 bring a resolution on this subject? That’s one of many unknowns on labor law as the U.S. looks toward a new year.
