International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union 357, AFL-CIO (Desert Sun Enterprises Limited d/b/a Convention Technical Services)

The Board (Chairman Ring and Member Kaplan; Member McFerran, dissenting) adopted the Administrative Law Judge’s conclusion that the Respondent violated Section 8(b)(4)(ii)(B) when it notified a neutral employer at a common situs that it intended to picket and it did not qualify that it would comply with the legal limitations on common situs picketing so as to not entangle neutrals.  After acknowledging that this longstanding unqualified-threat rule has not been clearly explained by the Board and that some courts have disapproved of it, the Board majority stood by the rule with a full explanation of its basis in Congress’s deep concern with protecting neutrals from entanglement in labor disputes and the inherent coercion presented by such an unqualified notice.  Dissenting, Member McFerran would have overruled the Board’s unqualified-threat rule and dismissed the present complaint.  She disagrees that an unqualified notice is inherently coercive and, instead, would examine all of the relevant circumstances to determine if a notice is coercive.

Charge filed by Desert Sun Enterprises Limited d/b/a Convention Technical Services.  Administrative Law Judge Gerald A. Wacknov issued his decision on July 28, 2014.  Chairman Ring and Members McFerran and Kaplan participated.

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