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The Burke Group (TBG Labor for short) is a Malibu based American management consultancy, established in 1982.[1] It is the largest management consultancy for "union avoidance and preventative industrial labor relations."[2] TBG offers advice to employers and services on keeping workplaces "union free",[3] also known as the practice of union busting.

The CEO and President of TBG is David J. Burke. He is a resident of Agoura Hills, California and a regular donor to the US Republican party.[4]

Business

TBG Labor assists employers in making sure that a trade union has serious difficulty in becoming recognised in workplaces, so that collective bargaining cannot take place. According to its website, employees considering a union,

"will demonstrate their conviction to remain union free by exercising their right to vote and by making an "informed" decision. TBG possesses the professional expertise at all levels of a union's organizing efforts (pre-petition, counter campaigning, and post-election) that guarantees that the voting unit will be "informed", and we specialize in the tough ones."[5]

TBG recommends that employers use their management staff to meet workers individually in an attempt to strongly persuade them of the perceived disadvantages of voting to be a part of a union. This may include arguing that a union will decrease pay, that workers could end up on strikes all the time, and that unions would harass them at their homes.[6]

TBG Labor also operates a subsidiary called Labor Information Services specialising in persuading employees to not join a union.[7] According to their webpage, the LIS is necessary because the "recent influx of non English speaking workers (predominantly Hispanic workers) throughout U.S. industries has made communications (third party persuading) to a company’s workforce a major challenge." Their consultants talk can talk to workers in "English, Spanish, Tagalong, French, Portuguese, Vietnamese as well as several dialects of Chinese."

TBG has a strong privacy policy for employers to consult in confidence.[8]

Operations

  • Chinese Daily News, October 2000, 152 mostly Taiwanese employees began to organise a union after an announcement to freeze pay levels and get employees to sign a statement that they were at-will employees. After that, 95% percent signed up for union authorisation cards. TBG consultant Larry Wong advised CDN and union recognition was contested. CDN management paid TBG $221,737 in 2001, $108,389 in 2002, and $480,462 in 2004. In September 2005 the union lost a rerun of the election. In 2007, the Court of Appeals awarded CDN employees $2.5 million for labor law violations committed by the company.[9]
  • FlyBe, 2006, 400 cabin crew tried to join the union Unite. The union claimed TBG had 20 full-time staff, though TBG Labor claimed they had only 2. TBG distributed videos to employees homes, held one on one meetings, arguing that staff would have less pay with a union, and there would be job cuts. Unite persuaded FlyBe to drop TBG. Subsequently 94% of workers voted in favour of unionisation, with a 89% turnout. This was TBG's first failure in the United Kingdom.
  • Kettle Chips, October 2007, workers voted 206 to 93 to not join Unite. With advice from TBG the company persuaded the Central Arbitration Committee to include office workers as part of a larger bargaining unit. TBG argued to workers that there would be a greater threat of strike if the union won. Subsequently 2 Facebook campaigns were launched to boycott Kettle Chips for its involvement with TBG.[12] Kettle then hired PR firm Hill and Knowlton to improve their image.[13]

See also

Template:Organized labour portal

Notes

  1. ^ This should not be confused with the Canadian temporary worker and human resources recruitment agency by the same name, est. 1979. For the Canadian firm, see The Burke Group's website.
  2. ^ The Burke Group Labor Relations Consultation to Management website
  3. ^ TBG Labor website, outlining its union free strategies
  4. ^ see, the Huffington Post 'Fundrace 2008' website; see CampaignMoney.com's search for David Burke, for 2004 and 2006
  5. ^ see, TBG Labor's FAQ on union avoidance, here
  6. ^ Logan, U.S. Anti-Union Consultants: A Threat to the Rights of British Workers (2008) pp.6
  7. ^ See the Labor Information Services website
  8. ^ see, TBG Labor's privacy policy webpage
  9. ^ see also, Logan, U.S. Anti-Union Consultants: A Threat to the Rights of British Workers (2008) pp.10-11
  10. ^ BBC News, Unions attack mobile phone firm, June 2, 2003
  11. ^ C&W's 'union busters' spark fury, The Independent, 19 August 2007
  12. ^ see, Boycott Kettle Chips: the anti-Trade Union snack and boycott kettle crisps for attacks on workers on Facebook
  13. ^ David Hencke, 'Has Kettle had its chips?', The Guardian October 18, 2007

References

Union avoidance/busting firms
News reports involving TBG Labor
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