Companies Spend $340 Million Annually To Stop Workers From Organizing

A new report that reveals that companies are spending a staggering $340 million on union-busting.

“A new report on employer opposition to union campaigns released today by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that employers spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year against union organizing efforts, and were charged with breaking federal labor laws in 41.5 percent of union campaigns in 2016 and 2017. While the authors of the report, who gained access to unfair labor complaints through FOIA requests, could not comment on specific cases, they say the newly organized tech industry is no exception.

‘Tech companies have traditionally set themselves aside as a cutting-edge employers. But what you’re seeing increasingly is that they behave the same way as Walmarts and Targets,’ Celine McNicholas, one of the report’s authors who reviewed thousands of complaints filed with the NLRB, told Motherboard.. ‘When faced with demands of improved working conditions and respecting workers’ voices, they turn to union avoidance consultants. They’d rather spend the money there than on addressing the demands of their workforce.’

Under the most conservative estimates, the authors find that employers are charged with unlawfully firing workers in nearly 20 percent of union campaigns. Nearly one third of the union campaigns filed with the NLRB in 2016 and 2017 involved reports of illegal coercion, threats, or retaliation against workers for supporting a union, the study found.

The report also provides important new information on the union avoidance industry, which includes anti-union law and consulting firms. According to new data, U.S. employers spend nearly $340 million each year on advisors that conduct ‘union vulnerability tests’ and provide companies with important recommendations for crushing union drives at their companies. IRI Consultants, the firm Google hired this year, advertises on its website that it ‘implement[s] successful educational campaigns designed to inform employees about the true impact and cost of unionization in the workplace.'”