In today’s episode of the America’s Work Force Union Podcast, Bob Funk, Founder of LaborLab, joined to discuss the current landscape of union busting in America. LaborLab is a non-profit watchdog organization that tracks and investigates corporate spending on union-busting activities. During the conversation, Funk touched on statistics regarding the money spent to stop union campaigns, the influence of large corporations like Amazon and Starbucks and the role his organization plays in combating these anti-union tactics.
Funk began by sharing some of the staggering amounts of money that companies are willing to pay union-busters to discourage worker-organizing efforts. According to recent disclosures, those hired to persuade workers against unions are earning as much as 20 to 45 times more than the workers themselves, with some consultants reportedly making $9,000 per day during anti-union campaigns at Amazon. Funk also shared data on Starbucks, revealing an estimated $240 million spent by the coffee giant to fight union efforts over several years. He said the financial commitment to these efforts, demonstrated by both national brands and more localized organizations, such as a hospital in Des Moines that invested over $6 million in resisting a nurses’ union, highlights the scale and seriousness with which employers approach union opposition.
Funk discussed how these efforts are not only costly but also indicative of corporate priorities that favor suppressing worker-led movements over investing in workplace improvements. He pointed to the example of the hospital in Iowa, where significant resources were diverted from patient care and staff hiring toward anti-union consultants and law firms. This, Funk argued, demonstrates a broader trend in the American workplace, where employers are increasingly willing to invest heavily to maintain control and avoid the perceived risks associated with unionized employees.
Finally, Funk discussed the mission and operations of LaborLab. The organization collects and compiles the largest database of union-busting tactics, tracks organizing campaigns nationwide and alerts workers, communities and policymakers when an employer retains a union-busting firm. LaborLab also provides training and resources to workers, democratizing knowledge so that grassroots organizers can recognize and counteract anti-union strategies on their own. Funk hopes this work helps fill a critical gap left by inadequate federal oversight, ensuring that workers have access to accurate and actionable information to protect their rights and pursue fairer workplace conditions.
For more from Funk and LaborLab, listen to the entire conversation on the America’s Work Force Union Podcast above.
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.
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