Workers Wanted A Union. Then The Mysterious Men Showed Up. [View all]

How a pair of “union avoidance” consultants using fake names turned a small Midwestern workplace upside down.

by Dave Jamieson July 24, 2023

Early last year, the president of a small manufacturing company in Missouri received a cold call from a man who went by the name of Jack Black. Workers at the company, called Motor Appliance Corp., or MAC, had just asked to hold a union election. Jack Black specialized in “union avoidance.” He wanted to offer his services.

Jack Black’s firm has brought in millions of dollars over the years by providing employers with “persuaders,” or, to use unions’ less charitable term, “union busters” — consultants who try to convince workers not to organize. Persuader work is big business these days. The number of union elections in the U.S. has surged amid an organizing wave over the last two years. Employers are now paying upwards of $3,000 a day, plus expenses, for each persuader. Amazon alone dished out more than $14 million to consultants last year.

But more often the employer is a little-known firm like MAC, which produces electric motors and battery chargers. The consulting work at MAC ultimately led to employee resignations and a hearing before the NLRB that shed new light on the opaque world of persuaders. This story is based primarily on testimony from that hearing, which was obtained through a public records request.

“We are a small company,” MAC’s Ballman said. “I felt that we needed some help on something that we knew virtually nothing about. We needed to do things right.”

FULL story: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/workers-wanted-a-union-then-the-mysterious-men-showed-up_n_64b7dd60e4b0dcb4cab68347