By Therese Norton
It is an unfair labor practice for an employer to say that employees could avoid a salary reduction if they were not represented by a union. PERC Examiner Claire Nickleberry recently found that Skagit Valley College interfered with employee collective bargaining rights by making such comments because they had a chilling effect on employees. Skagit Valley College, Decision 11536-A (PSRA, 2013).
In general, an employer interferes with employee rights to unionize when it makes comments that could reasonably lead an employee to believe that the employer was making a threat or promise to change the terms and conditions of work. There is no requirement to prove intent. Among other criteria, PERC considers the following:
- Are the employer’s comments substantially factual or materially misleading?
- Has the employer offered new “benefits” to employees outside of the bargaining process?
- Does the communication disparage, discredit, ridicule, or undermine the union? Are the statements argumentative?
In this case, Examiner Nickleberry found that comments made by individuals speaking for management at two all-employee meetings violated the State collective bargaining statute. It was clear that the comments had a chilling effect on employees because employees began discussing decertifying the union as a means to avoid the salary reduction following the meetings.
The College characterized the comments as factual; however, the applicable test is not how the employer characterizes the statement, but how the employee perceives the statement. Here, the employees perceived that the employer was saying that a benefit of not being represented was that their salary would not be reduced.
Examiner Nickleberry explained, “Regardless of intent, the comments made in the two meetings … definitely had the impact of undermining the union by making it clear to employees that if they were not represented by a union, they would not have to take the salary reduction.”
Examiner Nickleberry ordered Skagit Valley College to cease and desist from unlawfully interfering with employee rights through statements made by the employer or individuals speaking on its behalf and to post and read copies of the PERC notice in public.
