NLRB Acting General Cowen Issues Guidance on Union Salting

In a memorandum dated July 24, 2025, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Acting General Counsel William Cowen provided new guidance to all regional directors, officers-in-charge, and resident officers regarding the proper approach for investigating so-called “salting” cases. The memo clarifies how regional staff should assess whether individuals who engage in salting are entitled to protections under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

The memo defines salting as “the act of a trade union in sending a union member or members to an unorganized jobsite to obtain employment and then organize the employees.” While the practice is recognized under U.S. labor law, disputes have emerged over whether it is always conducted in good faith, or whether it sometimes crosses the line into coercive or bad-faith behavior designed to provoke legal violations or disrupt business operations.

To that end, Acting General Counsel Cowen’s guidance emphasizes the need for a fact-intensive inquiry into the motivations and behavior of union-affiliated applicants in salting cases. Specifically, the memo outlines a series of questions investigators should ask to determine whether the applicant genuinely sought employment or if the application was primarily a pretext to further organizing goals.

Pending legislation, the “Start Applying Labor Transparency (SALT) Act,” introduced by Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT), would address the coercive practice of union salting by amending the Labor-Management reporting Disclosure Act (LMRDA) to require labor organizations to register their salts with the U.S. Department of Labor. Additionally, the House Education and Workforce Committee recently requested information on ways to improve the LMRDA. WPI submitted comments, which are not yet public, this week including the need to address the coercive practice of union salting, among other recommendations.