The new union avoidance internationalism

John Logan

doi:10.13169/workorgalaboglob.13.2.0057

Abstract

Since the 1950s, large management-side law firms have helped corporations in the USA resist union organising campaigns. Their sophisticated techniques and aggressive tactics have made it extraordinarily difficult for unions to organise in the private sector. Over the past decade, several large law firms that specialise in union avoidance have internationalised their operations, opening offices in Latin America, Europe and Asia, forming international alliances and using global standards to attack labour organisation and undermine labour rights. This article analyses the global union avoidance activities of the two largest management-side labour law firms in the USA: Littler Mendelson and Ogletree Deakins.

Highlights

The USA is alone among rich democracies in allowing the development of an enormous industry of law firms dedicated to defeating union organising campaigns and keeping their clients – including many large multinational corporations – union free (Logan, 2006a)
Most studies focus on employer opposition and its impact on union organising, and deal only tangentially with the activities of management-side law firms specialising in union avoidance (Bronfenbrenner, 2009)
Union avoidance law firms have provided a service demanded by employers; their actions and ideas have helped shape national, and global, labour relations developments over the past several decades

Summary

Introduction

The USA is alone among rich democracies in allowing the development of an enormous industry of law firms dedicated to defeating union organising campaigns and keeping their clients – including many large multinational corporations – union free (Logan, 2006a). Labour & globalisation Volume 13, Number 2, 2019 globally: firms such as Littler Mendelson and Ogletree Deakins employ hundreds of attorneys in multiple countries, provide union avoidance advice to a growing number of multinational corporations and have annual revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Results

Conclusion