Did the SEIU-controlled NLRB Blackmail Company Owner?

Upon an initial read, a company owner’s actions that are described in this Newsday article appear to be way over the top…

The National Labor Relations Board required that Matrix Realty Group post this notice in its Danbury, Conn. complex: “We will not threaten to kill you or to cause you bodily harm because you engage in activities” in support of a labor union.

Eee gads! At first glance, based on the above, it would appear that some company “boss” went off the deep end and threatened to kill his workers.

However, like all good SEIU stories, there seems be more to this story than meets the eye.

Apparently, the purple-shirts over at the SEIU decided to park itself outside the company owner’s home (reminiscent of the SEIU stormtroopers who targeted Greg Baer in May) for no other reason than to put pressure on him over a labor dispute.

The notice is the result of a dispute between Matrix owner Glen Nelson of Miller Place and the Service Employees International Union.

The dispute escalated last year when Nelson bought a Connecticut building and switched janitorial companies to a nonunion cleaning service, replacing a workforce of 40 union janitors to save $1.3 million a year.

The man who says he was threatened, Arthur Tiscia, 40, in a telephone interview Wednesday said he went to Nelson’s home in Miller Place on Dec. 21 with a group of the cleaners who had lost their jobs.

They set up a table and a banner in the street near Nelson’s driveway and intended to ask Nelson’s neighbors for food donations for Christmas, for the families of janitors who had lost their jobs, Tiscia said. Nelson came home and threatened him, Tiscia said.

So, it’s a case of the SEIU activists word against the home owner’s? Since there was an alleged death threat made, you would think that would be in the police report, right? Wrong.

Suffolk police said an officer took a report in January in connection with a Dec. 21 dispute between Tiscia and Nelson. There is nothing in the police report about a death threat, and after the report was filed no further police action was taken, a police spokeswoman said.

So, why did the company owner capitulate to the union-controlled NLRB by posting a notice that has the Lefties over at FireDogLake in a frothy tizzy?

Nelson declined to talk about the notice or the dispute but issued a written statement saying Tiscia misconstrued something he said about how his new, less-expensive cleaning contractor was “killing” the union price-wise. Nelson said he agreed to post the NLRB notice to avoid a costly legal battle.

So, rather than fight the SEIU’s and the SEIU-controlled NLRB‘s allegations, this company owner opted to post a notice that has given the Left another reason to whine about “weak labor laws” throughout the blogosphere.

Read the whole Newsday article here and judge for yourself.