SEIU uses new opening to go along on OSHA inspections

OSHA last year cleared the way for union representatives to accompany OSHA compliance officers on worksite inspections even if the union doesn’t represent the company’s workers, and now the consequences are being felt.

Representatives of the Service Employees International Union have accompanied OSHA inspectors on at least three visits to worksites where employees of Professional Janitorial Service were working, according to an article by attorneys Brad Hammock, Henry Chajet and Mark Savit of Jackson Lewis.

OSHA’s February 2013 letter of interpretation said that not only could a union representative be selected to go along on an inspection, but that workers had the right to choose anyone they pleased to act as a representative, including non-employees.

The letter also said that employees in a workplace without a collective bargaining agreement may designate a union-affiliated individual to act as their personal representative. In this capacity, non-employee personal representatives may file complaints on behalf of an employee, request workplace inspections, participate in informal conferences, contest the abatement period in OSHA citations and participate in contest proceedings.

All this potentially provides an opening for union organizers to get a presence in a non-union workplace.

In the case of Professional Janitorial Service, the company is the largest non-union janitorial service in Houston and has been at odds with SEIU for the past seven years