Posts tagged Start Applying Labor Transparency Act
Vinnie Vernuccio Commentary: Trump can stop unions from tricking workers
May 4, 2025 // Unions won’t be open and transparent on their own, so Congress must step up. The SALT Act requires unions to file detailed public reports within 30 days of hiring a salt — the exact same thing that businesses have to do when they hire labor consultants. Workers deserve the transparency, accountability, and honesty that help them make a fully informed decision about whether unionization is right for them. And Trump can work with Congress to give workers this long-overdue power.
Owens Leads Legislation to Expose Union Backroom Deals
April 17, 2025 // Amends the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 to require labor organizations to disclose payments, loans, or financial arrangements with consultants hired to influence employees’ decisions regarding unionization. Ensures that all labor-related financial transactions, including payments made to persuade employees about collective bargaining, are fully reported to the Department of Labor. Closes reporting loopholes that have shielded labor unions from disclosing financial ties that could influence workplace organizing efforts. Directs the Secretary of Labor to issue necessary regulations within six months of the bill’s enactment.
The High-Stakes Battle to Organize Heats Up at Three of D.C.’s Hottest Restaurants
February 28, 2025 // Employees who have stepped forward say that members of Unite Here Local 25, which represents restaurant, hotel, and casino workers in the D.C. area, obtained individual home addresses; have then showed up at their houses at night to demand a union card signature; and even used one’s religion as a ruse to meet. In addition, some employees say that union reps have made them uncomfortable in repeated confrontations outside of work. Eater spoke to five workers at St. Anselm, Le Diplomate, and Pastis, some of whom spoke to the publication under conditions of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation.
Parity in Labor Transparency
April 24, 2024 // The institutional left has sought to reward Big Labor by making union organizing campaigns shorter, or bypassing them with “card check.” Big Labor knows that the dynamics of union organizing rely on labor unions being able to make their pitches to workers from trusted positions without skeptical responses from other workers or employer representatives. And they only need to win the vote once to start collecting dues and engaging in compulsory bargaining. As long as government-recognized and government-empowered compulsory union bargaining exists, the government require workers be given all the information before deciding whether to form a union and bargain collectively. The SALT Act would accomplish this needed reform.
Commentary: Congress Should Close This Labor Union Loophole
April 24, 2024 // Workers themselves have made clear that salting is manipulative. In Buffalo, New York, many Starbucks employees became upset after learning that their supposedly neutral coworkers were union salts. One employee called salts “very scheme-y,” saying they were “unsettling” because “some of these people I thought were my friends.” Another Starbucks employee lamented that salts were more interested in their job with the union than their fellow baristas. At least 25 Starbucks stores have begun the process of decertifying their unions, potentially reflecting employee anger at having been tricked by salts. Since unions won’t make these disclosures on their own, Congress must intervene. The SALT Act would require unions to do exactly what businesses do, filing detailed public reports within 30 days of hiring or otherwise entering into an agreement with a salt. Labor unions say they respect workers, but their continued use of undisclosed salts shows profound disrespect for the men and women who make our economy run. Workers deserve better than union manipulation. They deserve the transparency, accountability, and honesty that help them make a fully informed decision about whether unionization is right for them.
ATR Urges Lawmakers to Pass the SALT Act
March 28, 2024 // The SALT Act has been met with support from both business leaders and worker interest groups, highlighting a broad coalition against union workplace subversion. According to Vincent Vernuccio, President of the Institute for the American Worker (I4AW), “unions should make the case for representation in plain sight and let the workers decide.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has emphatically agreed, insisting that the SALT Act would address a “considerable imbalance” between labor unions and employers, ensuring that employers “know who they are hiring, and allow employees to know if those urging them to join a union are actually working for that union.”
Opinion | Unmasking Big Labor’s ‘Salts’
March 26, 2024 // Big Labor says these legal protections are the only way the masses can compete with corporate power. The masses don’t seem to agree. The Institute for the American Worker conducted a recent poll on labor fairness, and three-quarters of respondents said unions should have to disclose their paid influencers. The labor-law standard since Taft-Hartley has been freely and transparently negotiated employment contracts. President Biden hasn’t hidden his goal to boost unions by any means available. Lawmakers who want to maintain a fair labor landscape will have to defend it on several fronts.
Owens Leads Labor Union Transparency Bill
March 21, 2024 // Imagine a scenario where an employee, without the knowledge of their colleagues and employer, is receiving compensation from a union while advocating for its interests within the workplace,” said Congressman Burgess Owens “This deception not only breeds suspicion but also erodes the very foundation of trust and transparency between employers and employees. The #SALTAct seeks to address this issue by requiring union salts to disclose their affiliation with the Department of Labor, ensuring transparency and fairness in the workplace.”
SALT Act Introduced by Rep. Burgess Owens
March 21, 2024 // The Start Applying Labor Transparency (SALT) Act, introduced today by Rep. Burgess Owens, would require deceptive paid union organizers, known as salts, to file the same reporting forms as management hired labor consultants.