Small Pueblo business challenges National Labor Relations Board

A small family-owned Pueblo construction company squared off Thursday against the National Labor Relations Board in the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C.

Colorado Fire Sprinkler, which installs fire sprinkler systems, claims the NLRB was wrong in its March 2016 majority decision siding with a labor union in a dispute over the union's power over the company and its dozen or so workers. The union is the Maryland-based National Road Fitters Local 669.

Attorneys for the company and the NLRB presented arguments in the case for more than the 40 minutes originally allotted them before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. A decision is not expected for three to six months.

"The judges were clearly interested in the issues in this case," Thomas Lenz, a veteran labor law attorney from California representing Colorado Fire Sprinkler, said Thursday in a telephone interview following the hearing.

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