Union Busters
The term “union buster” is a pejorative term used primarily by trade unions, media, and political organizations supportive of the labor movement to describe persons and organizations that represent management during organizing, derecognition (UK), decertification (US) and labor disputes. Management representatives would be those persons that provide services known as union avoidance or preventive labor relations for remuneration to corporate management either anticipating or engaged in union activities such as a comprehensive campaign, card signing, union organizing US, organising model UK, card check, strike action, decertification and also certification elections.
Trade unions often refer to management consulting firms, industrial relations consultants labor law specialist, Industrial psychology specialists, and independent contractors such as unemployed industrial relations personnel and former union organizers who represent management in non union environments or during ballot elections as union busters.
Labor relations consultants and attorneys specialize in multiple disciplines such as labor law, supervisory training, bargaining, arbitration and mediation, and compensation analysis. Because most management personnel and supervisors are untrained in labor law and its implications, they seek the advice of those who are. The specialty of counter organizing or preventive labor relations is not always evident from a management representative or attorney website. Firms and organizations which specialize in countering organizing campaigns typically work with company management and supervisors to focus on techniques intended to influence worker attitudes regarding collective action.
Labor relations consultants and attorneys are not only employed by management during labor actions but often before any organizing is apparent. Contemporary consultancies have developed union avoidance programs aimed at non union companies which focus on training managers and supervisors in techniques called "preventive labor relations". Non union corporations spend considerable resources employing professional consultancies to audit their organizations in order to keep a finger on the pulse to understand and solve issues before employees seek union representation. This practice of seeking information and doing supervisory training about how not to commit infractions and ULP's is termed by trade unions as union busting.
Additionally, during audits and supervisory training, consultants and attorneys may encourage employers to view union interest as a failure of management rather than interest in joining a trade union. Consultants may advise management to solve workforce issues before labor unrest occurs in order to stem the tide of organizing activity with the intention of "making unions or third party representation superfluous." Dr. John Logan, a labor expert currently at the San Francisco State University who was commissioned to write about consultancies by the TUC believes that while union avoidance consultants and law firms pay lip service to "preventive" or "positive" labor relations, most of them are actually hired for the specific purpose of counteracting union organizing efforts.
Trade unions may also refer to non union employers as union busters when they undertake supervisory training to improve worker relations which often results in averting seeking of outside representation and/or new jobs.
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