As pro-labor support has grown, so too has the union-busting industry

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America's Work Force Union Podcast AWF LaborLab

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Bob Funk

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Bob Funk, Founder and Executive Director of LaborLab, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the ways corporations pay for union-busting consultants, the tactics these bad actors employ to disrupt union organizing campaigns and how LaborLab is attempting to shine a light on this industry.

While pro-union sentiment has increased in recent years, so has the number of corporate anti-union campaigns. To help combat the increase in union-busting campaigns, non-profit watchdog groups like LaborLab are doing what they can to make a difference. Funk discussed the work that LaborLab does to accumulate data on union-busting activities.

The National Labor Relations Act states that workers have the protected right to join, or not join, a union without fear of retaliation. Funk described how these union-busting campaigns have been funded using taxpayer dollars and then being able to write the costs off on their end-of-the-year taxes. The average cost to retain a union-buster is about $3,000-$5,000 per day, and by the end of the year, the costs can easily be over a million dollars, he said.

According to LaborLab's reporting, union-busting consultants have been hired to fight organizing campaigns in 26 states and one territory in 2024. Funk discussed some of the methods that the consultants have used in their union-busting efforts. No matter the laws in place, as long as bosses are not afraid to cut corners to save money, these bad actors will keep working to disrupt union organizing campaigns.

To hear more on the union-busting industry listen to the show above. Please visit their website to help fund LaborLab’s ongoing efforts to bring light to the union-busting industry.

America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

As pro-labor support has grown, so too has the union-busting industry

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