Aran's Political Corner:

Salting is the practice of sending union agents or unemployed union workers to an open shop company as an ordinary applicant. The union employee then works from within as one of your employees to convince other employees to join the union, or report wage and hour or safety violations. In extreme cases, salts create such violations for the purpose of sabotaging a company’s safety record. Compared to the last few years, this summer more union workers are available to apply for jobs with open shop contractors because the construction industry has slowed significantly.

The AFL-CIO Building and Trades Department has adopted salting as an official organizing policy. “Salting” is a mining industry term referring to how promoters once scattered bits of precious metal around mines to make the mines appear more valuable to investors. 

Salts can either be “overt” or “covert.” Overt salts may apply singly or in a group. Overt salts may arrive together on a van or a bus, and they may wear union jackets and hats to apply for jobs when you’re hiring, so you’re fully aware of their union status. You’re obligated to follow neutral hiring policies – if you allow mass walk-in applications, by law you must allow them to apply, as well as consider their applications as you would any other. By law, you must hire the most qualified applicant, regardless of union affiliation. However, if the salt fails to complete, falsifies, or submits a non-original application, you should not accept it if your policy is to accept only numbered, original, accurate and complete applications. 

A covert salt hides his or her union status. A covert salt will try to organize your company without your knowledge. You should have in place anti-solicitation policies that are neutrally enforced. You should also have strict and uniformly enforced rules about personal use of office equipment. Some contractors have reported finding salts’ organizing reports on their office fax machines! If you discover a covert salt, you should continue to treat that person the same as any other employee, and be sure not to segregate the salt or relegate him or her to solitary or less-desirable tasks.

If you believe you have a union salt, there are a few things you can do to help your company and employees through the salting process:

• Review your hiring policies. Make sure it is written in the employee handbook that incomplete or inaccurate applications are grounds for not hiring or termination.
• Treat all employees (both union and non-union) equally and consistently.
• Notify your Employment Practices Liability insurance carrier, if you have one.
• Remind all management-level staff that employment requirements and hiring guidelines require strict adherence.
• Don’t isolate a salt worker, and don’t give him or her a less desirable work time, location, or any other different treatment.

The best practice is to have a strong working environment and happy employees. As long as employees are paid a fair wage and are treated well, they often have no reason to turn to a union and start paying union dues. If a company has a strong workforce and is well compensated, usually the union salt moves on to a weaker company that is less difficult to organize. If you have any questions about salting and your rights as an employer, please contact Vice President of Government & Labor Affairs Aran Buchan at (800) 640-7789, (425) 646-8000.