Hunton Retail Law Resource

Although supply chain labor has long been a primary focus for unions, the COVID pandemic changed how labor viewed supply chain leverage, especially in retail. Years of planning during COVID produced new approaches to creating co-employer liability for lead firms—companies that sit at the top of supply chains, franchise systems, subcontracting networks, and other business arrangements in which work integral to their business is performed by workers whose legal employer is another entity.  Initial steps are now maturing into a comprehensive approach aimed at the commercial heart of the retail model. By 2027, retail's central labor challenge will be a sophisticated, top-down strategy to force lead firms into binding agreements.