Mine Illegally Threatened to End Pension Payments, NLRB Rules

A sand and stone mining company illegally threatened to unilaterally impose its proposal to halt pension plan payments before negotiations with its employees’ union reached a valid impasse, a divided National Labor Relations Board ruled.

Illinois-based RiverStone Group Inc. violated federal labor law by announcing at the bargaining table—in the presence of two workers on the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150’s bargaining committee—that it would cease the contributions, an NLRB panel held on a 2-1 vote Thursday.

That announcement was an unfair labor practice even though RiverStone didn’t actually implement its plan, because the statement told workers that ...