The Topsy Turvy World of Honest Weight Food Corporation

Rumour has it that the Board of the Honest Weight Food Corporation, the Board that governs the Corporation in the name of the members has finally got around to asking for a ruling from the New York State Department of Labour on the legality of the member worker programme. Why they asked for a ruling from the state rather than from the federal Department of Labor is a mystery since federal labour law supersedes state law when it comes to labour law.

Assuming that the state issues a ruling a ruling does not mean that this is the end of the matter. The ruling from one state Department of Labour does not mean that other state departments of labour would follow suit and rule that member worker programmes at fauxops are illegal. Nor does the ruling from one Department of Labour mean that the federal Department of Labour would concur with the ruling of one state Department of Labour. Nor does it mean that this issue is now settled case law. The Corporation and the Board, if they wanted, could now challenge the ruling of the NY Department of Labour in state and then federal courts. That the Board or at least some members of the Board seem to have no interest in taking the issue to court should speak volumes about the commitment of the Board to cooperative principles and should suggest to members and interested observers that there is a faction at the Corporation whose goal for years has been to rid the Corporation of those pesky inefficient member workers and turn the Corporation into more of a Corporation than it already is.