Union Salting Standards Changed
Salting refers to paid or unpaid union organizers who apply for jobs for reasons of either getting a job and advocating for union affiliation from inside the company, or setting an unwitting employer up for an unfair labor practice. It is unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire an applicant merely because the applicant plans on expressing pro-union views. Typically, a salt will apply for a job making it known on the application, cover letter, or by other communication that union organizing is his or her intention. The reaction of many nonunion employers is to turn down pro-union applicants in violation of the NLRA.
In Toering Electric Company, the NLRB modified its rules for analyzing unfair labor practice charges arising when an employer refuses to hire or to consider hiring an applicant because of union considerations. The Board will now require the General Counsel [which prosecutes ULP charges] to prove that an applicant was "genuinely interested in seeking to establish an employment relationship with the employer." The rationale for the Board’s decision was expressed as follows:
[T]he Board's experience has shown that in some hiring discrimination cases, particularly those involving 'salting' campaigns, unions submitted batched applications on behalf of individuals who were neither aware of the applications nor interested in employment opportunities with the employer. In other cases, individuals submitted applications but were not interested in obtaining employment with the employer. Their applications, sometimes accompanied by conduct plainly inconsistent with intent to seek employment, were submitted solely to create a basis for unfair labor practice charges and thereby to inflict substantial litigation costs on the targeted employer.
Salting is only one of the union hiring tactics that target small nonunion employers that may be less prepared to respond. Other tactics include the following:
- A union member gets a job with a company while concealing his or her union membership. After being hired, he or she openly attempts to organize the work force, usually violating the company’s rules until he or she gets terminated. The union then files an unfair labor practice charge alleging that the company discriminated against the salt because of his or her union activity.
- Large groups of union members applying for positions at a workplace disrupting operations and sometimes video taping the response of company managers.
- Corporate Campaigns target employers with adverse publicity and filing complaints with federal, state and local agencies.
