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On Sept. 8, Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga., a member of the House Education and Labor Committee, introduced the ABC-supported Truth in Employment Act, H.R. 5178. This legislation would amend the National Labor Relations Act to protect small businesses and their employees from the coercive tactic used by big unions known as “salting,” which makes small businesses targets of harassment campaigns designed to increase forced unionization.

Ahead of the bill’s introduction, Kristen Swearingen, ABC vice president of legislative & political affairs, said, “Salting is not merely an organizing tool—it has become an instrument of economic destruction aimed at nonunion companies. ABC supports legislation like the Truth in Employment Act that would amend the National Labor Relations Act to make it clear that an employer is not required to hire any person who seeks a job primarily to organize employees or put nonunion companies out of business—or both. This change would not infringe on any rights or protections otherwise afforded to employees under the NLRA. It would alleviate the legal pressures imposed on employers to hire individuals whose overriding purpose for seeking a job is to disrupt the workplace or otherwise inflict economic harm.”

ABC has long opposed the detrimental impacts of salting abuse and will continue to work with the House Education and Labor Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to educate Congress about the negative effects that the practice has on small businesses.