Threat From US Union Busters

Tactics used by US employers to keep unions out of the workplace are being increasingly used in the UK as employers here begin to hire firms of union-busting consultants to persuade their workers against the benefits of union membership, warns a TUC report published today (Tuesday).

To coincide with the report’s publication, the TUC and its American equivalent - the AFL-CIO - are joining forces to try to thwart employer efforts on both sides of the Atlantic to demonise trade unions and scare employees from joining up. The two union organisations plan to shed light on the underhand tactics used by the union busters to keep workplaces union-free.

The report, US Union Avoidance Consultants: A Threat to the Rights of British Workers has been written for the TUC by Dr John Logan from the London School of Economics. Describing the multi-billion dollar union busting industry in the US,  the report says tactics used by “consultants” are designed to frighten and intimidate workers away from any union attempt to recruit them at work. The union busters warn the workforce that the union will start harassing them in their homes, risk their job security, and cause them a loss of earnings and benefits. Employees are also given company leaflets warning them that if they join the union they are likely to be permanently on strike and under threat of violence should they join any picket line.

Dr John Logan, author of the report said, “For over three decades, so-called ‘union avoidance consultants’ have helped American employers undermine their workers’ fundamental right to organize and bargain collectively.

‘The United States has an entire industry dedicated exclusively to stopping workers from forming a union. Several of these US consultants are now operating internationally and are seeking to expand their business in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. It is essential that union busting is not allowed to flourish on this side of the Atlantic.”

AFL-CIO’s Director of Organising Stewart Acuff said, “The US’s $4 billion union busting industry is by far our worst export. As the industry grows in the UK, it makes sense that we band together to fight these highly paid, morally bankrupt agents of corporate greed. Our fundamental source of power is workers united and in motion.”