Starbucks has had one heck of a week with the release of an internal audit regarding the company’s conduct during its ongoing unionization fight, another tough loss at the NLRB, and tons of media coverage about its sagging numbers. These are not happy days in Seattle. We’ll discuss.

And a job training program gone bad or exploiting cheap labor? We’ll take a look at the lawsuit in Alabama against the state for exploiting convicts in work release programs that also involves a few of our QSR friends.

And our old friend Jeff Hanscom, VP of State & Local Government Relations & Public Policy for the International Franchise Association drops by the pod to look ahead with us into 2024 and see how and where the joint employer issue may play out at the state level.

We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.