ABC criticized an Aug. 27 split decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling a hiring referral service operated by the Independent Electrical Contractors of Houston hindered the efforts of union “salts” to obtain jobs.
The 2-1 decision
on salting took more than a decade to issue and in a dissenting opinion, board member Peter Schaumber found the ruling without merit stating, “this (hiring) process was put in place before any union organizing and applied to all applicants regardless of union affiliation.”
“This decision, giving new preference to union salts, follows on the heels of the NLRB’s decision in favor of union bannering,” said 2010 ABC National Chairman Jim Elmer, founder and president of James W. Elmer Construction Co., Spokane, Wash. “Together, these cases show that President Obama’s new appointments to the NLRB have strongly tilted the balance of decision making from a neutral position to favor organized labor.”
In a 3-2 decision also issued Aug. 27 regarding the consolidated cases known as
United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local No. 1506 (Aug. 27, 2010), the NLRB determined that although a provision in the National Labor Relations Act prohibits unions from engaging in other activities that could be considered coercive or threatening to a neutral employer, such as picketing, the NLRB decision exempts bannering from the provision.