At a gathering of the National Restaurant Association’s legal arm, lawyers and executives grappled with a worker uprising.
by Julia Rock, The Lever
“Comrades,” said Chappell Phillips, as he grabbed the microphone, “please do not leave the conference. It’s all better from here.”

Phillips, an executive at the buffet restaurant chain Golden Corral, stood at a podium in the front of a hotel ballroom in Atlanta, before some one hundred restaurant executives and managers and union avoidance lawyers mingling and sipping weak coffee.
Minutes earlier, the government’s top labor watchdog had been standing at the same podium delivering the keynote speech here at the October 2022 summit of the Restaurant Law Center, the legal arm of the National Restaurant Association.
Lobbying groups often invite government officials to their conferences to curry favor or gain insight into regulatory developments. But America’s chief enforcer of federal labor law at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) had not stuck to the proverbial script.
Recent Posts
62 percent Of Democrats Agree Party Leadership Should Be Replaced: Survey
June 20, 2025
Take Action Now The party has found it difficult to build a cohesive message as the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has been embroiled in…
Democratic Leadership Is Complacent In The Face Of Iran War Threat
June 20, 2025
Take Action Now “It’s embarrassing that some problematic far-right figures are speaking out more forcefully against direct military…
The Revolution Will Not Be Digitized: A “No Kings” Debrief
June 19, 2025
Take Action Now What worked, what didn’t—and what about Gaza?By RJ Eskow, The Zero Hour Report The “after-action review” is an exercise that the…
AIPAC Is Cajoling Congress Into Supporting War With Iran
June 19, 2025
Take Action Now The pro-Israel lobbying group has sent a flurry of communications to members of Congress, citing specific language for them to parrot…