LaborLab, a Workers’ Rights Watchdog, is launching new tools to give Workers a clearer picture of what they’re up against when they organize and shine a brighter light on the $1.7 Billion Union-Avoidance Industry in the United States. 

Many U.S. employers hire Anti-Union consultants and law firms to discourage Workers from organizing and bargaining for better pay and working conditions.

These specialists, typically paid more than $400 per hour, coach supervisors on Anti-Union messaging, track Union support, prepare campaign literature and speeches designed to sow fear and doubt, and sometimes directly persuade Workers while presenting themselves as educators.

By law, many of these relationships must be disclosed, but this information is scattered across Federal databases that are notoriously difficult to search.

But now, LaborLab has launched a free on-line Union-Buster Search Tool that brings that information into one place, allowing Workers to research the attorneys and consultants their employer has hired, see how much they’re paid (when available) and identify patterns in their activity.

Debuting as a complement to the Search Tool is LaborLab’s new Cost Calculator, which allows Workers to generate an estimate of the full cost of their employer’s Anti-Union Campaign.

Together, the tools help Workers better understand, expose and push back against the specialists and resources mobilized by their employer to deny them a voice in the workplace. 

LaborLab Executive Director Bob Funk said: “These tools advance LaborLab’s vision of providing resources that can help directly empower Workers to organize their workplaces. We envision Worker-Organizers, Union Staffers and Labor Attorneys using the search tool to identify Unions that have previously dealt with a particular Anti-Union attorney or consultant, learn from their experience and share that information with other Workers.” 

Drawing on filings from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), the search tool compiles data on more than 800 consultants, 8,000 law firms and 21,000 attorneys.

Users can also view those employers that Union-Busters represent, the rates they charge, their campaign history, the Unions they target most often and, where available, their win-loss records, with direct links to NLRB cases and USDOL disclosures. 

LaborLab’s Union-Busting Cost Calculator estimates up to seven costs employers bear by fighting a Union rather than voluntarily recognizing one upon proof of majority support.

These include direct expenditures on attorneys and consultants and hidden internal costs, such as paid Employee time spent in Anti-Union one-on-ones and Staff meetings.

The calculator also estimates a wage increase that the employer could have provided with those resources instead.

LaborLab’s estimates have been presented to the Minnesota Senate and cited in coverage of Organizing Campaigns by Nurses, Therapists and Mechanics.

To Continue Reading This Labor News Story, Go To: New Union-Buster Search Tool and Cost Calculator Offer Organizing Firepower to Workers - LaborLab

LaborLab Editor’s Note: You can access the Union-Buster Search Tool here and the Cost Calculator here - and an in-depth explanation of the Calculator’s cost categories and default assumptions is available here.