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. . If employees have trust and a connection to the team, they are less likely to feel unhappy and seek out a third party. The Burke Group [TBG], established in 1982, is the international leader in guiding management during union organizing (recognition) and union card signing campaigns. 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. © 1998-Present LAWCHA. We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience. Amazons Huge Expenditure on the Bessemer Anti-Union Campaign: Amazon is paying a small fortune for its anti-union consultants. One of the best ways to determine a companys vulnerability to union organizing is to conduct onsite employee relations assessments. In 2018, Littler employed over 1000 attorneys in the United . Failure to recognize early warning signs of union activity can result in having to engage in a costly and disruptive union campaign, which can create deep and long-lasting divisions within the workforce, not to mention the negative consequences should the union prevail (e.g., increased costs, restrictive work rules, work stoppages, etc.). Should you choose to contact an attorney at Barnes & Thornburg LLP (via The "Big Four" Union Avoidance Law Firms Go Global. Employees in favor of unionizing there cited overtime pay cuts, fewer breaks and wage gaps as the main reasons for organizing with the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers . 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 . You need to emphasize to employees from the beginning that a third party is never necessary when there is a problem. . We can provide a strategic response to labor union organization efforts, ensuring your work place stays union free and your business or organization is protected. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 in . Undeterred by this setback, Brown and Smith were involved in a bitter decertification campaign involving pilots at Flexjet LLC in 2018. At ANHS, we know unions. Supported for the latest versions of: The "Big Four" Union Avoidance Law Firms Go Global. Prevent Costly and Disruptive Union Organizing Campaigns. Empower those in authority to deal with problems quickly and efficiently. When managers are ineffective, organizations become vulnerable to union organizing. 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. Other important benefits derived from our employee relations consulting program include: Companies that listen to employees and train their supervisors to develop good working relationships can reduce interest in union membership and deter union organizing efforts. Even with the new election rules, the NLRB election process will remain stacked in favor of corporations and their highly-paid "union avoidance" consultants. John Logan is Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University. Prior to conducting the first session, Hutchison Group will meet with senior management to discuss the process, answer any questions, and identify areas of particular interest that should be explored during our employee relations sessions. Google hired IRI Consultants, a firm known for its anti-union activities, for advice on how to deal with growing worker unrest. 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. 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 . He also lobbied to make union decertification easier under the Railway Labor, promoted union deauthorizations, advocated for easier union decertification on the Grover Norquist Show, and testified before the Labor Department on regulations that threaten the stability of American Businesses. Brown and Smith, along with Russ have also testified in favor of easier decertification under the airline industry. Both Russ Brown and Rebecca Smith have worked for LRI directly, and continued to do so, even after establishing their own anti-union consultant firms. As with the Amazon campaign, Rebecca Smiths anti-union work on these campaigns was conducted through Russ Browns Road Warrior Productions. The disclosures from Amazon offer a glimpse into how far the online retailer is willing to go to stay union-free. 614-628-1433. Union Avoidance. The same site advertises a JacksonLewis seminar titled "War is Helpful: Union Avoidance Training." For a fuller description of the firm's work, see John Logan, "The Union Avoidance Industry in the United States," British Journal of Industrial Relations 44, no. October 15 - 16, 2019. Use a tool that provides enough detail to identify actual and potential issues. She's fourth generation union, raised in an activist-union household. If you let employees voices go unheard at the office level, you run the risk of problems festering and spiraling out of control. Fortunately, you don't have to know the answer -- because we do. Hotel Information. These firms have perfected union avoidance techniques that make it extraordinarily difficult for unions to organize in the private sector.1 In recent years, several firms that specialize in union avoidance activities have extended their activities globally: Littler Mendelson and Ogletree Deakins employ attorneys in multiple countries, provide union avoidance advice to a growing number of MNCs and have annual revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars. John Logan is Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University and a visiting scholar at the University of California-Berkeley Labor Center. Since Littler was founded in San Francisco in 1942, union avoidance has been a major area of its expertise. With 1400 clients in 50 industries and 10 countries (including the United States, E.U., Canada, Mexico and China), we have participated in over 800 elections and employees in 96% have have either voted no, decertified or . 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 key to sound employer policies and procedures begins with a clear and legally compliant employee handbook. Employees see no way to address their issues beyond inviting outside help to disrupt your business. 404-264-4033, F Labor Relations Training for Supervisors (best way to reduce your risks). Union-avoidance specialists, and the employers that hire them, must disclose their arrangements to the Labor Department. All Rights Reserved. Mission nurses encountered relentless and aggressive consultant anti-union tactics during the campaign, including mandatory captive audience meetings and one-on-one anti-union meetings, which kept them from their patient care duties. John Logan is Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University. A union organizing campaign can be an incredibly divisive and destructive experience for your organization or business. A) union avoidance strategy B) union acceptance strategy C) union substitution approach D) proactive human resources approach E) union suppression approach and more. Since Littler was founded in San Francisco in 1942, union avoidance has been a major area of its expertise. These firms often provide so-called union vulnerability assessments, which are usually based . Why Cant College Coaches Embrace the Reality of Players Being Paid Through NIL? Link to book room. Best Lawyers 2022 "Best Law Firms" List. 651-675. Labor History for the Classroom and the Public, The Radicalism of Working-Class Americans, activities of Labor information Services elsewhere, and LRA served as a breeding ground for several future superstars of the union-free movement, a barrage of anti-labor tactics and intimidation, https://olmsapps.dol.gov/query/orgReport.do?rptId=740712&rptForm=LM20Form, https://theintercept.com/2021/02/10/amazon-alabama-union-busting-koch/, 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, https://files.epi.org/uploads/LM20_C525_01_28_2013_525631-copy.pdf, 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/. Union avoidance law firms have grown increasingly concerned that unions have used International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions and other international labor standards to advance organizing campaigns. 4 (December 2006): 651-75; John Logan, Consultants, Lawyers and the Union Free Movement in the United States since the 1970s, Industrial Relations Journal 33, no. A proposed rule change would expose such anti-union expenses the last thing the union busters themselves want. In 2018, Littler employed over 1000 attorneys in the United States and over 1500 worldwide. Factor in geography. Five of Ogletrees fifty-three law offices are overseas; it publishes a global labor relations newsletter, and it recently expanded its cross-border practice to include global labor standards and corporate codes of conduct.4 Ogletrees expanding international focus has been client-drivena direct response to demands from corporations for its labor services in multiple countries. 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