For decades, Marxists have executed a masterful invasion of American businesses and organizations. One need only look at the state of the media, Hollywood, our universities, public education, and the increasing number of “woke” corporations to see how successful this infiltration has been. But how does this work, in practice? How do the collectivist foxes get away with running the henhouses?
One of the many ways is through union “salting.” The Society for Human Resource Management defines salting as a union-organizing tactic “whereby the union pays an individual to apply for job within a targeted company and, once the job is obtained, to begin union organizing efforts. … A salt’s role is to gather information as a company insider and use it in the union organizing campaign.”
The word “salting” comes from the fraudulent practice of enticing investors to a mining operation by throwing salt in the vicinity to imitate the look of gold. In some cases, a salt’s mission is just to get far enough in the hiring process to file an unfair labor practice charge against the employer, whether it’s a manufacturing operation or a restaurant chain or a charter school.
Currently, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) protects employees who are genuinely interested in employment with the employer. By contrast, a salt has been a sort of persona non grata with the NLRB. That’s just common sense. But that could be about to change.
NLRB General Counsel Pushes for Legal Change
In a memo issued May 30, NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo asserted that noncompete provisions in employment contracts and severance agreements violate the National Labor Relations Act. She first argued that these noncompetes “interfere with employees’ ability” to resign or threaten to resign as part of negotiating tactics, or to seek employment with a competitor and encourage co-workers to do so as part of a negotiation. Then she went on to drop her mask, expressing concern that noncompetes hamper the ability of “employees” — salts — to “seek employment, at least in part, to specifically engage in protected activity, including union organizing, with other workers at an employer’s workplace.”
The Abruzzo memo marks a potential turning point in NLRB history. The NLRB general counsel’s willingness to promote the march of union salts is emblematic of the successful union infiltration of our federal institutions. Much has been made lately of the weaponization of the federal government on behalf of one side of the political aisle.
Promoting Unions on the Taxpayer’s Dime
In the labor space, there seems to have been an acceleration of this mission. Look at the Department of Labor’s website, which looks like it was produced by union propagandists. Look at the bailout of the Teamsters’ mismanaged pension. Look at the way the federal government is even looking to use an environmental disaster to benefit the unionistas.
Meanwhile, Abruzzo and her compatriots across the Biden administration are busy weaving webs of collaboration with the IRS, Department of Justice, and Federal Trade Commission. The obvious intent is to both give a veneer of legitimacy and lend an intimidating air to their brazen efforts to promote unions on the taxpayers’ dime.
Can common sense somehow prevail at the NLRB? Large swaths of our country have lost faith in most or all of the institutional pillars of our civilization. Americans increasingly look at situations like this — a career union lawyer like Abruzzo infiltrating the NLRB corridors — and shake their heads with a defeatism befitting of a banana republic.
But history suggests a more urgent response is in order. The NLRB should stand for the rule of law and reject Abruzzo’s gaslighting and subversion. The foxes may already hold the keys to the henhouse, but every effort should be made to grab them back.
Russ Brown is president of the Center for Independent Employees.
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