Since Littler was founded in San Francisco in 1942, union avoidance has been a major area of its expertise. [i] https://olmsapps.dol.gov/query/orgReport.do?rptId=740712&rptForm=LM20Form; https://theintercept.com/2021/02/10/amazon-alabama-union-busting-koch/, [ii] https://www.bloomberglaw.com/product/blaw/bloomberglawnews/daily-labor-report/XDO8UHS0000000?bc=W1siU2VhcmNoICYgQnJvd3NlIiwiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmxvb21iZXJnbGF3LmNvbS9wcm9kdWN0L2JsYXcvc2VhcmNoL3Jlc3VsdHMvYzk5NGZkYWY2Njk3ODRlZWY1ZWMwNDFmNTU4N2I1MWIiXV04b7364334cc7ae9ee73746b2a39fefa3bcbfd714&bna_news_filter=daily-labor-report&criteria_id=c994fdaf669784eef5ec041f5587b51b&search32=z06D2qAaUyOlZ5RoTngirA%3D%3DAFxBuzXRrdQ1eS8JhXb75fLUkPDQjTdd3oCq3KwQ-HHDP0xweicPLMSsdCqq59RV_jlTjPNdfq8FAgUVzbrDJ7Oc9jwyLuv_QVo0oiA1us7ZhFnB13ZPEVTUhGezjqnjtiFX8AfvZ8tlbvpuSJmU_A%3D%3D, [iii] https://files.epi.org/uploads/LM20_C525_01_28_2013_525631-copy.pdf. Lolito, the attorney with union-avoidance firm Littler Mendelson, essentially tried to flip the script in an interview with Salon, saying that avoidance services are necessary and important . 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. Labor relations consultants specializing in union avoidance activities have been operated in the United States since at least the 1940s. 20.Stefan Marculewicz and Brent Wilton, Employer Freedom of Opinion and Expression Within the Context of Union OrganizingA Fresh Perspective from the ILO, Littler, November 10, 2010, available at littler.com/publication-press/publication/employer-freedom-opinion-and-expression-within-context-union. This guy, Russ Brown, is looking to. Select a quiz below to take the Union Vulnerability Quiz that best matches your organizational structure. Even with the new election rules, the NLRB election process will remain stacked in favor of corporations and their highly-paid "union avoidance" consultants. The Dangers Of Union Avoidance. 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. "That's very likely an underestimate of how big the industry really is," Poydock said. CHICAGO. Teamster Avoidance: Since leaving the Teamsters to join the ranks of its adversaries in 2007, Rebecca Smith has been involved in several anti-union campaigns against her former employer, as well as against multiple other unions in transportation, manufacturing, building trades and others. July 9, 2018 Will escalating , June 27, 2018 This morning the U.S. Supreme Court , The formation of unions is problematic to the overall structure , December 5, 2017 As anticipated, President Trumps new General , For the first time in 8 years, reason may return , Submerged beneath several feet of media chaff about General , The Bureau of Labor and Statistics released its 2016 Union . According to Motherboard, leaked polling spreadsheets from one of the most prominent union avoidance firm, IRI Consultants, show how anti-union consultants profile and essentially characterize . Tracking the union avoidance firms behind anti-union campaigns is intentionally made difficult by firms that subcontract out work to other firms that hire independent contractors to avoid federal reporting requirements laid out by the Department of Labor and shield themselves from public scrutiny. 15.Littler Mendelson, The U.S. NCP and Developments on Extraterritoriality, available at https://www.slideserve.com/sean-fox/stefen-marculewicz. . Terms of Use & Disclaimer. IKEA, for example, turned to Ogletree Deakins, one of the largest law firms that specialize in so-called union avoidance activities, to help it crush unionization efforts in Stoughton, Massachusetts, in 2016. In these cases, they go to a third party for help, and you have a union on your hands. 651-675. 260-424-8316, F
616-742-3999, F
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.. . 3 (2002): 197-214. Use a tool that provides enough detail to identify actual and potential issues. Lolito, the attorney with union-avoidance firm Littler Mendelson, essentially tried to flip the script in an interview with Salon, saying that avoidance services are necessary and important . Mission Hospital: A Relentless anti-union campaign during the pandemic: In addition to the Amazon campaign, Brown and Smith have worked on several other recent high-profile anti-union campaigns, including among nurses at Mission Hospital, owned since 2019 by the for-profit healthcare system HCA, in Asheville, North Carolina. 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. Based on an analysis of publicly available reports filed with the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that employers now spend nearly $340 million per year on union avoidance firms. Captivating Workers: Captive meetings mandatory group anti-union meetings which employees can be fired for refusing to attend have been a central feature of Amazons anti-union campaign at Bessemer. We understand that every company has different goals and objectives, so our labor relations consultants start our planning process by meeting with senior management to ensure our labor relations training program for supervisors addresses their specific areas of concern. 3. The firm also provides comprehensive counseling related to drafting, review and revisions of employer handbooks and manuals. Look out for these emails and check out our website for more information on how to remain union-free! . The right mix. November 4, 2021. . The notoriously secretive, $340 million-a-year industry of union-avoidance firms is currently advertising based on the idea that the pandemic has put organizing on "steroids." Over the past decade, the four largest management-side law firms specializing in union avoidance have internationalized their operations. 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. Here are some of the most well-known companies in America and how much they've spent on union-busting firms. Don't wait to take back the control you've worked so hard to achieve. Union avoidance is a method companies use to keep unions out of their establishments. One of the biggest spenders in recent years is Amazon. These firms include IRI Consultants, recently hired by Google, and the anodyne-sounding Labor Relations Institute, which the report says is one of the nation's largest union-avoidance firms. Scholars have long-since learned to be pessimistic about the prospects for labor law reform. The result is a more capable management team and a more effective workforce. Reassure the Board of Directors and Shareholders. Pro-union workers who challenge their claims have had their ID badges photographed. These activities can include holding mandatory meetings where managers discuss the negative aspects of unions, distributing . Make the environment an overall great place to work, and employees will share in that excitement. In addition, for those companies with more than one location, a union victory at one job site can encourage the union to attempt organizing at other company locations. Human Rights Watch has criticized captive meetings as a form of legal intimidation, which are unlawful in many developed democracies. Having worked with both union and nonunion companies over the past 30 years, our labor and employment consulting firm . necessary.17. E-mail or other means of communication), do not disclose information you regard Dont ignore the early warning signs of union organizing: huddles that disperse when a manager approaches, increased use of union terminology, new worker alliances, increased complaining, and more. [iv] https://www.amazon.com/Union-Hypocrisy-Organized-Standard-Business/dp/1478275162(https://www.amazon.com/Union-Hypocrisy-Organized-Standard-Business/dp/1478275162), (https://tunein.com/podcasts/Conservative-Talk/The-Brenner-Brief-w-Sara-Marie-Brenner-p514156/) (https://www.rwplabor.com/consultant-bios/rebecca-smith/). Among other campaigns, while working under LRI, Brock helped defeat a union campaign at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas in 2014 and is currently running a major anti-union campaign at the largest hospital in Maine. Part of that strategy involves training of key supervisors. . 2021 Hutchison Group Inc.. All Rights Reserved. We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience. Hutchison Group is a nationally recognized HR and labor relations consulting firm. 2013-2023 Adams, Nash & Haskell, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Araby is all too aware: "Union avoidance firms are a growing presence in the cannabis industry; the big union-busting law firms like Morgan Lewis and Littler Mendelson, as well as others, see . implications of communicating with Barnes & Thornburg LLP and agree to the In 2017, for example, NATERAs annual conference included a pre-conference workshop featuring union avoidance and campaign simulation, run by the anti-union law firm, Jackson Lewis, which was tailored to the transportation industry.. For this to happen, much depends on the employees day-to-day relationship with their immediate supervisor. . In 2018, Littler employed over 1000 attorneys in the United States and over 1500 worldwide. We will get you through this - our professionals have worked with employers from coast-to-coast, across most industries and with most of the major unions. 18.Stefan Jan Marculewicz, Elimination of the Secret Ballot Union Election and Compulsory Arbitration under the Employee Free Choice Act: A Violation of Fundamental Principles of International Labor Law, available at https://www.uscib.org/docs/090317_marculewicz_article.pdf. The disclosures from Amazon offer a glimpse into how far the online retailer is willing to go to stay union-free. But several U.S. union avoidance firms have recently sought overseas markets for their expertise. In 2021, the company paid more than $4.2 million to four anti-union labor firms, according to disclosures filed with the . Google's Union-Busting Methods Revealed. Brown, Smith and James Edwards, general counsel of both CIE and RWP, were deeply involved in the anti-union campaign (After the Flexjet decertification election, the chairman of Cleveland-based carrier, Ken Ricci, stated: This is a historic moment not only for our company but also for the industry as a whole, since no other pilot group has elected to remove representation by organized labor. Brown also celebrated the historic election as the first time in the 80-year history of the Railway Labor Act that pilots have chosen a direct relationship with their employer rather than have a labor union interfering as a third party., Union activists agreed that Brown and Smith had played a critical role in the decertification campaign. 312-759-5646, F
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