Union busting is a term used by trade unions and others to describe a wide range of activities undertaken by employers, their proxies, and governments, which hinder workers from freely organizing, joining and maintaining trade unions. While the right to join and form trade unions is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), union busting actions subvert the organization and continuation of unions by sowing discord amongst union members, challenging unions via law courts, strike breaking, lockouts, violent suppression, the sponsorship of anti-union organizations, or the creation of employer-controlled trade unions.
History
Workers have formed unions for a variety of reasons, but primarily, to improve wages, hours, and working conditions. Many employers may prefer to prevent unions from organizing because unionization can cause higher labor costs, reduce profits, and interfere with the operations of the organization. Employers have historically sought help to counter union activity. Agencies assisting such efforts have included security and quasi-police groups such as Pinkertons and Baldwin-Felts, government resources such as military or national guard forces and, more recently, labor relations firms experienced in labor law.
Great Britain
Following the repeal of the Combination Laws in 1824, workers were no longer prohibited from forming organizations or collective bargaining, although significant restrictions remained. In 1832 the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers was formed in Dorset to challenge declining wages (members of the organization agreed to only work for wages of a set amount). In 1834 a landlord complained about the group and key members were subsequently charged and convicted under laws prohibiting the swearing of secret oaths and sentenced to seven years penal transportation to Australia. This sentence invoked a movement to defend the members, who were released in 1836 and 1837. The workers became known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs in reference to the village where the organization began and their treatment.
United States
Main article: History of union busting in the United StatesUnion busting in the United States dates at least to the 19th century when a rapid expansion in factories and manufacturing capabilities caused a migration of workers from agricultural work to mining, manufacturing and transportation industries. Conditions were often unsafe, workers often toiled in dangerous environments, women worked for lower wages than men, and children were employed, often for long hours. Because employers and governments did little to address these issues, labor movements in the industrialized world were formed to seek better wages, hours, and working conditions. The clashes between labor and management were often adversarial and hostile and were deeply affected by wars, economic conditions, government policies, legislation, and court proceedings.
Although companies may influence unions through bargaining, labor relations, and by other means, employer-controlled unions in the United States have been outlawed since the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which requires that an employer may neither assist (as in the event of unions competing to organize the company), nor dominate any labor organization.
Union busters
Union busters is a term widely used by labor organizations and others to describe individuals and/or organizations such as labor lawyers, labor relations consultants, and/or industrial psychologists who are either opposed to unionization or engage in practices designed to stop workers from forming trade unions, or from remaining in trade unions. When corporations confront organizing drives, they may hire a labor relations consultant. Because unions depend on the support, confidence, and good will of its members, some labor relations consultants target those qualities in strike breaking or union avoidance campaigns.
The union avoidance industry consists of four main groups which frequently coordinate their activities: labor consultants, law firms, industrial psychologists, and strike management firms. These agencies advertise services related to their ability to navigate the labor laws of a country in order to defeat union organizing drives, to defeat strikes, or to decertify unions. The term union buster may be applied to any agency that undertakes such projects. The term may also be applied to employers who undertake such actions on their own initiative, or who hire union busting agencies in order to accomplish the same goals.
Most labor relations attorneys and consultants participate in multiple disciplines such as bargaining, arbitration and mediation, and compensation analysis. The specialty of union busting (or counter organizing) is not always evident from a consultant's website.
Firms and organizations which specialize in countering trade union organizing drives typically work with a company's management and supervisors to focus on techniques intended to influence worker attitudes to dissuade any sort of collective actions. During a union certification election, these consultants may encourage employers to view the campaign as a failure of management rather than a vote for or against joining a trade union. Consultants may advise management to solve workforce issues before labor unrest occurs in order to stem the tide of organizing activity with the intention of "making unions or third party representation superfluous."
However, some analysts remain skeptical of such portrayals by labor relations consultants. According to former management consultant Martin Levitt, "When CEO's hire labor relation consultants to battle a labor union, they close their eyes and give the consultant run of the company." And John Logan, a labor expert at the London School of Economics, believes that while union avoidance consultants and law firms pay lip service to "preventive" or "positive" labour relations, most of them are actually hired for the specific purpose of counteracting union organizing efforts.
Changing focus of union busters
There are many Labor Relations consultancies in the United States. While some are very diverse, others specialize in specific industries such as Health Care, Manufacturing, Aerospace, Utilities, public sector, etc. Although many work only in the United States, others are established in international markets such as Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America.
In both the U.S. and Europe, organizing campaigns increasingly involve immigrant non English speaking workers. According to John Logan, at least one agency has an established international division which has been operating in Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and Mexico. Since recognition procedures changed in the U.K. it has expanded to the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Germany and Asia. it employs consultants fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Tagalog, Creole and several dialects of Chinese, allowing it "access and acceptance in virtually any employee group and enjoys a reputation for eliminating union incursions."
Examining conditions in the late 1990s, John Logan observed that union busting agencies helped to "transform economic strikes into a virtually suicidal tactic for U.S. unions." Logan further observed, "as strike rates in the United States have plummeted to historic low levels, the demand for strike management firms has also declined." Because of the decrease in the manufacturing sector and resultant decline in union members and unionized organizations, as well as the decreasing numer of strikes, contemporary union busting agencies have developed union avoidance programs aimed at non union companies which (instead of focusing on strikes and decertifying existing unions) is focused on "preventing" worker interest in unions by training managers and supervisors in techniques called "preventive labor relations". Some corporations spend considerable resources employing professional consultancies to audit their organizations in order to determine issues before their employees seek union representation. They train their supervisory staff about how not to commit infractions that would trigger unrest and card signing.
How organizations find union busters
Clients may seek out labor consultants based on experience, track record, language skills, and reputation. Labor laws differ from one nation to another, therefore global experience with international labor relations law may be a factor. The E.U has recently seen an influx of counter organizing activity largely due to U.S. companies establishing satellite divisions on the European continent and Asia. Some multi-national corporations have pre-established relationships with U.S. consultancies.
In 1980, most union busters acquired clients through a network of labor lawyers. Some companies keep labor relations consultants and attorneys on retainer. Others may monitor government NLRB offices where NLRB petitions for recognition or elections are filed by unions which reveal organizing drives before management knows about them. Advertising through websites and direct mail are additional means of contact.
Historically, some agencies sent secret operatives into a prospective client's factory without permission. A report was prepared and submitted to the manager, revealing conspiracies of sabotage and union activities. Such aggressive and disreputab
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