Amazon Spent $4.3 Million On Anti-Union Consultants Last Year

According to new filings with the U.S. Department of Labor, Amazon paid $4.3 million to anti-union consultants last year in order to beat back union organizing campaigns.

The disclosures from Amazon show how far the online retailer is willing to go to stay union-free. Many employers hire anti-union consultants to hold meetings with workers and discourage them from unionizing, but they don't match the scale or price tag of Amazon's efforts over the course of just one year.

The workers at the Amazon fulfillment center in Alabama were required to attend meetings where they heard anti-union talking points in the run-up to the union election. After determining that Amazon had broken the law, federal officials ordered a new election for workers to join the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union.

Workers in Staten Island, New York began an organizing drive with the upstart Amazon Labor Union last year. The results of a union election at that facility could be known as early as this week. An election will be held later this month at a smaller Amazon facility in New York.

Both the employer and the consultant have to tell the federal government about the arrangement when they speak to workers about unionization. Amazon's consultants were paid an average of $3,200 a day for their work during the organizing campaigns last year, according to documents submitted to the Labor Department.

“Workers in Bessemer told HuffPost last year that they encountered consultants every week, and at one point just about every day.”

The employer must inform the government how much it spent in total, but not until the end of the first quarter the following year, which is why Amazon's total spending in 2021 didn't come to light until this week.

A 2020 analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found that only a few employers have spent more than $1 million on anti-union consultants, and that it takes several years to rack up such a bill. It is on the high end to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The speeches given by consultants are called captive audience meetings because attendance is required. The meetings tend to follow the same script, with consultants talking about the cost of union dues and the possibility of work strikes.

Consultants say they are neutral third parties but they are hired to defeat unionization efforts. Outside of meetings, consultants help the company on its strategy to defeat the union and guide supervisors on how to interact with workers.

Amazon has a large workplace that would have cost it a lot of consultants. The company seems to have held almost constant meetings during the critical organizing periods because the warehouses employ thousands of workers over multiple shifts a day. Individual workers were sent to multiple meetings to make sure the anti-union message got through.

One worker told HuffPost last year that they encountered consultants every week and at one point every day. The money they make will be off of you. They will use your $9 a week to buy cars.

Amazon has spent a lot of money on anti-union work.

Employers don't have to reveal their arrangements with lawyers or consultants if they don't have direct contact with employees. The more expensive work done by attorneys at union avoidance law firms like Morgan Lewis was not disclosed.