"Employers will no longer be able to shift responsibility for their workers and hide behind loopholes to prevent workers from organizing,” says the Teamster president.

The United States National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) voted Thursday to expand its definition of “joint employer” which would mean that more workers would have the opportunity to bargain for and demand more rights from their employers as more companies rely on temporary staff agencies, subcontractors and franchisees to avoid responsibility for the laborers.

“With more than 2.87 million of the nation’s workers employed through temporary agencies in August 2014, the Board held that its previous joint employer standard has failed to keep pace with changes in the workplace and economic circumstances,” the federal board said in a statement on its website.

The ruling came in favor of the workers at Browning-Ferris Industries of California (BFI), a California state waste-management company, which hires Leadpoint company to subcontract staff. The board ruled that BFI was a joint employer with Leadpoint.

The statement said that BFI was in both direct and indirect control over “essential terms and conditions of employment of the employees supplied by Leadpoint as well as BFI’s reserved authority to control such terms and conditions.”

Such ruling, according to observers, would not only affect BFI and its workers but will extend to various corporations that shy away from taking responsibility for the lack of rights and grave conditions that their subcontractors might be imposing on workers.

"This decision will make a tremendous difference for workers' rights on the job," Jim Hoffa, general president of the Teamsters union, said Thursday. "Employers will no longer be able to shift responsibility for their workers and hide behind loopholes to prevent workers from organizing or engaging in collective bargaining. This is a victory for workers across America."