In June 2020, after widespread criticism of its lackluster response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Amazon hired two corporate health and safety experts from one of the country . Identify and Address Areas of Concern Before they Become a Problem, By addressing problems proactively, not only can the company demonstrate that it cares about employee concerns, but they can deny union representatives potential foot holds that they might otherwise use to support their organizing efforts. After leaving the Teamsters reportedly fired for gross incompetence Smith started working as a anti-union consultant. In September 2020, almost 1000 nurses voted to join the NNU in a landslide victory, thereby providing the labor movements largest hospital victory in the South since 1975. At ANHS, we know unions. With centuries of combined labor relations experience, our consultants equip you with the knowledge you need. Faced with a wave of worker activism in its warehouses last year, Amazon paid anti-union consultants roughly $4.3 million in an effort to beat back union organizing campaigns, according to new filings with the U.S. Department of Labor. Finding new ways to help clients identify solutions and new business opportunities, across industries, is at our core. In the end, youre not the only victim of a labor relations conflict. By clicking any link on this page you are giving your consent for us to use cookies. Global Services - General Co-Chair, Global Services - Japan Co-Chair. Here are some of the most well-known companies in America and how much they've spent on union-busting firms. Whether you choose one-on-one mentoring, group training, or The Union-Free Privilege Academy, our union avoidance management consultants tailor seminars and workshops to meet the specific needs of your organization. Brown and Smith have reportedly conducted captive meetings under the guise of education sessions, which caution them against the alleged dangers of unionization. In common with other union avoidance firm, ECLR claims an overwhelmingly positive victory rate in union campaigns: While unions typically win between 60 and 70% of union representation elections, ECLR maintains a win rate of over 95%. following terms. Russ Brown: Russ Brown is a long-time anti-union consultant, who worked for many years in labor relations at Delta Airlines, before starting as an anti-union consultant for Oklahoma-based Labor Relations Institute (LRI), Inc. and now runs his own firm, Road Warrior Productions (RWP) Labor, LLC, based in Florida. It is extremely important to stay ahead of the tide in order protect your Union-Free Privilege. In testimony before the House of Representatives, one Littler attorney stated that global union federations have become increasingly active in the United States and on behalf of their U.S. member unions to further organizing efforts . Kumho Tires: Numerous and Egregious Anti-Union Practices: Brown and Smith also conducted an anti-union campaign at Kumho Tires in Macon, Georgia, between 2017-2019. to attack global union federations by making their financial records publicly available. Smith conducts training seminars for management and her clients include many in the Fortune 500, and claims to have worked on anti-union campaigns for governments, non-profits, and companies in the airline, transportation, healthcare, hospitality, energy, and retail sectors.[iv]. Labor relations consultants specializing in union avoidance activities have been operated in the United States since at least the 1940s. Confronted with unions using international labor standards as a means to gain leverage in global organizing campaigns, union avoidance law firms have pushed back. These strategies can include active intimidation and surveillance of union supporters, exploiting divisions within the workforce to stir up opposition to the union or spreading misinformation about the . We call it The Union-Free Privilege. 6.Fisher Phillips, International Employment Practice Group, available at https://www.fisherphillips.com/services-international-employment. Anti-union experts have been busy in the nonunion grocery and warehouse sectors. Thomas McKibbin, a . Brown and Smith campaigns worked on a failed attempt to decertify flight attendants at Allegiant Air in 2016, which was then the largest decertification attempt in the history of the Railway Labor Act. John Logan, "Consultants, Lawyers, and the 'Union Free' Movement in . Google hired IRI Consultants, a firm known for its anti-union activities, for advice on how to deal with growing worker unrest. Money Back Guarantee: The firm has orchestrated hundreds of anti-union campaigns over the past few decades for some of the countrys largest employers and numerous smaller ones and through its Guaranteed Winner program, it even offered employers a money-back offer if they union won an election in which they ran the entire counter-organizing effort. One consultant writes in his LinkedIn profile: To start, I want to make it clear that I own a consulting firm that works exclusively for management to stay union free and promote positive employee relations, but my story did start on the union side with nearly 24 years of experience for unions.. We are, at times, more than lawyers, we are advisers bringing new ideas to light. Google's Union-Busting Methods Revealed. Littler Mendelson is the world's largest management-side law firm focusing exclusively on labor and employment issues. Littler Global opened its first overseas office in Venezuela in 2010, its first European office in 2015, and now it has offices in over twenty countries. In addition, consultants such as Brown and Smith script anti-union messages for corporate clients, such as the texts that Amazon has been sending to the phones of Bessemer workers several times per day, the anti-union billboards that Amazon has displayed around the Bessemer facility, or the anti-union flyers it has put up inside the stalls of the restrooms in Bessemer. That said, providing labor relations training for supervisors is extremely important. These firms often provide so-called union vulnerability assessments, which are usually based . . We will work to guide you in the best ways to educate your employees about the dangers and problems of unionization and address underlying issues in your workplace. It's not only Morgan Lewis: Amazon has links to other leading union avoidance firms and experts: Amazon has connections with several other leading anti-union law firms. Don't forget to like us! 540 N Michigan Avenue. Littler attorneys have also proposed that global union federations be regulated by U.S. law. For this to happen, much depends on the employees day-to-day relationship with their immediate supervisor. . By agreeing to remain silent, an employer effectively may deny workers information, opinions and ideas they have a right to receive . Like Smith and Brown, Brock has a long-time association with Oklahoma-based LRI, and he includes Teamster Avoidance in his areas of expertise. In these emails, you will receive updates on company proceedings, relevant news in the industry, and messages from our President & CEO, William R. Adams. Labor rights is an issue whose time has come. 14.Global Legal Group, The International Comparative Guide to Employment & Labor Law, 11-12, available at https://www.hoganlovells.com/~/media/hogan-lovells/pdf/publication/theinternationalcomparativelegalguidetoemploymentandlabourlaw_pdf.pdf. Union membership in the United States has declined dramatically over the last several decades, with just 6.2% of private sector workers belonging to a union in 2019, compared to 16.8% in 1983. He has published widely on employer opposition to unionization and on anti-union law and consultant firms. Sources. John Logan is Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University. . A second lawyer, a partner at one of the nation's leading anti-union law firms, also insisting on anonymity, said that workers' smart use of social media has undercut union avoidance efforts. recognized by the ILO, that is, its right to campaign vigorously against the union.21. During the bitter anti-union campaign, Blomberg Law reported, union activists were fired and all employees were called into mandatory meetings where the companys anti-union consultant advised them against unionizing.[ii] But LRIs activities extend well beyond its cameo role in the American Factory documentary. Gamekeepers Turned Poachers: Several prominent consultants have claimed to have worked working for unions, including some of Smiths close associates. Employees see no way to address their issues beyond inviting outside help to disrupt your business. As with the Amazon campaign, Rebecca Smiths anti-union work on these campaigns was conducted through Russ Browns Road Warrior Productions. 1. This report was originally published in the New Labor Forum and was written byJohn Logan,Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University. The key to sound employer policies and procedures begins with a clear and legally compliant employee handbook. We have an extensive team of legal professionals that offer creative solutions and innovation, aimed at engaging clients in union avoidance activities prior to the formation of an actual campaign. Advised by its U.S. union avoidance lawyers, Nissan insisted that the U.S. NCP should not broker an agreement that would place the company in a position of . The first nationally prominent consultant was Chicago-based Nathan Shefferman, who, as Sanford Jacoby described in Modern Manors (1997), worked for Sears Roebuck before establishing his own consulting firm, Labor Relations Associates (LRA). Last month, we discovered that, starting in January, Amazon had hired two prominent anti-union consultants, Russell Brown and Melissa Smith of Florida-based Road Warrior Productions (RWP), to assist with its campaign against the RWDSU. In the 1970s and 1980s, 3M conducted thousands of anti-union campaigns with over 70 anti-union consultants, including Marty Levitt, who renounced his former profession in the late 1980s and published a tell-all memoir, Confessions of a Union Buster, in which he detailed a dirty business which was populated by bullies and built on deceit.. LIS is a long-established union avoidance firm that also operates under the name, The Burke Group, or TBG. Monitoring the NLRB and Other Pro-Labor Legislation and Regulations. Littler attorneys have argued that, under international law, employers not only have a right, but also have an obligation to oppose unions: ILO jurisprudence requires them to speak out against unionization, otherwise workers will be denied access to information they need to make an informed choice: [I]t may be a violation of international law for employers to be limited in their right to freedom of expression and opinion . Thanks to the video criticizing Amazons anti-unionism tweeted by President Biden and the RWDSUs inspirational campaign at Bessemer, the PRO Act is arguably now in a league that EFCA failed to achieve. Our team has also helped companies avoid hundreds of campaigns across the country, including UAW, Steelworkers, Teamsters, CWA, IBEW, UFCW, UNITE-HERE, IAM, AFTRA, SEIU, The Laborers, GMPP, Sheet Metal Workers, 1199, just to name a few. #7. LIS is a long-established union avoidance firm that also operates under the name, The Burke Group, or TBG. Having worked with both union and nonunion companies over the past 30 years, our labor and employment consulting firm have learned to identify key warning signs and recommend proactive steps to remain union free. This includes our Leadership Effectiveness Analysis, which helps your managers identify and leverage their strengths. Leaked files from IRI Consultants, a union avoidance firm, obtained by Vice's Motherboard show the disturbing lengths to which companies will go in order to derail workplace organizing. The right mix. Through overseas offices or strategic alliances, Littler Mendelson, Ogletree Deakins, Jackson Lewis, and Fisher Phillips have expanded their reach to Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Littler attorneys have proposed filing an OECD complaint against global union federations and establishing and funding a group to process and publicize the case. This interesting idea would put labor on the defensive and provide corporations targeted by unions with a tool to respond to criticism.15. Ogletree Deakins is the nations second largest management-side law firm specializing in union avoidance. Her Reliant bio page states: As a consultant, Rebecca has led numerous anti-union campaigns, resulting in a winning record for the companies with whom she partnered, including but not limited to government, non-profit, and for profit organizations within airline, transportation, healthcare, hospitality, energy and retail industries. Having worked with both union and nonunion companies over the past 30 years, our labor and employment consulting firm . Trusted by Many of the World's Best Companies, About Our Company Award Winning Industry Leader, HR Due Diligence for Mergers and Acquisitions, Plan and Negotiate Exceptional Union Contracts, Employee Relations Assessments and Strategies, Assess the companys vulnerability to union organizing, Increase level of trust, mutual respect, and cooperation, Identify obstacles to communications, teamwork, and productivity, Secure practical suggestions for improvement, Understand major reasons for employee dissatisfaction and turnover, Discuss how supervisors can reduce the risk of costly union organizing campaigns, Help supervisors understand how their daily interactions with employees can serve as a catalyst or deterrent to union organizing, Share useful techniques for motivating employees and provide practical suggestions for self-improvement, Teach supervisors how to respond to union organizing activity, including the legal dos and donts when discussing union inquires, Clarify company expectations for the supervisory role, Improve communication, teamwork, and performance, Help reduce employee turnover, grievances, and litigations. After first unionizing in 2016, Flexjet pilots voted to decertify the Teamsters, the first time that commercial pilots had ever decertified a union under the RLA, in May 2018. The autonomy to run your business as you desire is paramount to the success of your business. Littler attorneys have suggested using the OECD complaints process . According to Pitt's financial disclosure reports, the Office of University . © 1998-Present LAWCHA. Since Littler was founded in San Francisco in 1942, union avoidance has been a major area of its expertise. We will train your leaders, we will educate your employees. One of Browns former LRI colleagues says that hes knows up close and personal, from first-hand experience, what its like to run a successful campaign to defeat a union organizing attempt. RWP videos warn employers that during union organizing campaigns, You only have one chance to win, which appears to mirror Amazons approach at Bessemer. implications of communicating with Barnes & Thornburg LLP and agree to the For those organizations with a non-union workforce, Hutchison Group can help to discreetly determine your vulnerability to potential union organizing and reduce your risk of having to endure a union campaign. Select a quiz below to take the Union Vulnerability Quiz that best matches your organizational structure. In 2019, Google hired IRI Consultants, a union avoidance firm, "amid a wave of unprecedented worker organizing at the company," as Vice's Motherboard put it in January 2021, while reporting on leaked files from IRI that provided a disturbing picture of how far Google may have strayed in its . Their immediate supervisor # x27 ; Movement in also proposed that global union federations establishing... 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