Franchisees world Franchisees world are unions. In the modern business world if a group of employees want to form a union and the employer doesn't want it then the employer has a right to close the company. I believe franchisors ought to be allowed to put in the contract that if any franchisees get together and form a franchise association to use as collective bargaining power against the franchisor, other than an association approved by the franchisor, then the franchisor should have the right to terminate the franchise contract with all franchisees in that region immediately and shut down further operations under that brand name in that area indefinitely. When a small group of franchisees in one area use such unnatural market forces as a weapon against a franchisor then the franchisor has less ability to service the rest of the system and therefore other franchisees in other parts of the country or world will not get fair and equitable time and energies of the franchisor, thus those other franchisees will be damaged. This will force those franchisees world to start their own union (association) and demand for their rights. This will tear down the franchise system with infighting and the Federal Trade Commission should not condone such behavior as it damages franchisees that are without representation and are forced to join the association, thus they are forced to join a group that they did not know existed when they signed their franchise agreement. A group they may not agree with and a group, which may not have existed at the time they bought their franchise. As a two-term board of director’s member of the AAFD Association of Franchisees and Dealers I watched as franchisee associations were formed by class action franchisee attorneys and they took down some rather top notched franchise organizations. And in doing so hurt the investing public, consumers who had purchased franchises and relied on the assistance of the franchisor. As the associations started to gang up on the franchisor, the franchisor was so busy defending against the onslaught of sometimes frivolous law suits that they could not perform their obligations as franchisor. I do not believe the Federal Trade Commission should have any guidelines as to the use of franchisee associations. There are many great companies without unions who generally provide a greater efficiency in the market place to consumers and definitely higher productivity; this is great for consumers of goods and services and the general productivity of the nation. A franchisor should be allowed to put in his documents that; "if you buy this franchisees world you agree not to form a franchisee association or union of franchisees."