Union Busting - Labor Attorneys and Consultancies

Labor Attorneys and Consultancies

Organizations may retain labor/employment attorneys and consultancies based on experience, track record, language skills, and reputation. Since labor laws differ from one nation to another an organization will consider experience with international labor law within multinational corporations.

When trade union organizing occurs, labor attorneys are generally contacted for advise and often turn to consultants with whom they regularly work who can do supervisory training on site. Some companies keep labor relations consultants and attorneys on a retainer and sometimes as full-time staff whether union or non union. Still others use external labor/employment lawyers and/or consultancies on an hourly per diem basis.

Conversely, many labor lawyers and consultants may find clients by monitoring government offices such as the NLRB regional offices where US trade unions are required to file RC (Representation Certification) or RD (Representation Decertification) petitions which are public record. These petitions reveal the names of organizations undergoing concerted activity and the name of the union seeking recognition or an election. These petitions are also used by organizations to conduct demographic studies of concerted activity regionally in order to prepare supervisory training in anticipation of organizing. Some companies maintain libraries and offer petition logs online as a courtesy for companies which cannot conduct the research for themselves.

Similarly, UK trade unions are required by the ERA 1999 to adhere to specific procedures regarding trade union recognition such as filing a "Letter of Intent" to the CAC (Central Arbitration Commission) which simultaneously notifies not only the CAC but the employer that statutory recognition is being sought and the filing then becomes public record which labor lawyers and consultancies can access in order to market their services.

Organizations may also use computer search engines such Google and YouTube along with sponsored advertising, websites, social media and professional referrals to find labor/employment lawyers and consultancies which specialize in organizing, counter organizing, and labor laws such as the ERA 1999 (UK) and NLRA (US).