Key takeaways

• Many U.S. employers hire union avoidance consultants to keep their workers from organizing and bargaining for better pay and working conditions. We estimate that employers spend roughly $1.7 billion a year on union avoidance consultants and law firms for this purpose, which has an undeniable impact on workers’ ability to organize and bargain collectively.
• Over the past several decades, large law firms have developed substantial business specializing in union avoidance services. This includes exploiting the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) administrative processes and creating nearly endless delays for workers who are trying to form a union.
• Large law firms—such as Littler Mendelson, Morgan Lewis, and Jackson Lewis—have represented employers in their fights against some of the largest organizing efforts over the last decade, including Amazon, Starbucks, and Trader Joe’s.

Introduction

In 2025, unionization in the United States grew to its highest levels since 2009 (McNicholas, Poydock, and Shierholz 2026). This growth is a testament to the fact that Americans increasingly view unions favorably and recognize them as critical instruments for building a just economy. Yet more than 50 million nonunion workers would join a union but are unable to do so because our nation’s labor laws allow employers to derail workers’ unionization efforts (McNicholas et al. 2019).

It is well documented that employers often hire union avoidance consultants to dissuade and...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMipAFBVV95cUxOWEJkcGdxQW5aRzdwUUlGS1ht...