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The Burke Group

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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 referred to by unions 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 developing communications during union organizing and recognition campaigns, so that employees gain comprehensive understanding of collective bargaining and how it will impact them. 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 that guarantees that the voting unit will be "informed".

TBG Labor also operates a subsidiary called Labor Information Services specialising in talking directly to the voters to explain the facts about unions to clearly communicate management's position on union recognition and why they don’t want a union.[5] 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 (sic), French, Portuguese, Vietnamese as well as several dialects of Chinese."

TBG has a strong privacy policy for employers to consult in confidence.[6]

Operations

  • Honeywell, 12 October 2001 CAC Ballot, Employees voted 64 to 26 against union recognition.
  • Amazon, 12 Sept 2001 ACAS voluntary petition, Employees voted 188 to 35 against union recognition.
  • G.E. Calidonia, 29 May 2002, CAC Ballot, Employees voted 449 to 223 against union recognition.
  • Silberline 12 Nov 2002, ACAS, Employees voted 42 to 27 against union recognition.
  • Chinese Daily News, March 2001, 150 employees of Monterey Park California (U.S.) voted 78-63 to join the CWA (Communications Workers of America) and its member union, the Newspaper Guild. TBG consultant Larry Wong was hired to advise CDN and union recognition was contested. As a result, The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled to overturn the March 2001 election due to "supervisory taint" and ordered a new election. [7] Note: In the U.S. supervisors are not permitted to take part in card signing or be members of the bargaining unit. In September 2005, employees voted 92-52 against the union.
  • Calor Gas, 18 Feb 2003, ACAS, Employees voted 43 to 14 against union recognition.
  • Virgin Air, 21 May 2003, ACAS Employees voted 450 to 99 against union recognition.
  • T-mobile, May 2003, ACAS, TBG sent 7 minute videos to 550 employees homes to convince them to not vote for recognition of the Communication Workers Union. T-Mobile employees on 8 May 2003 voted 351 to 170 against union recognition.[8]
  • FlyBe, 2006, 400 cabin crew tried to join the union Unite. Two (2) TBG consultants worked for just over 4 weeks. There was no anti-union campaign, and no videos were produced or distributed. FlyBe hired TBG to secure a ballot for good industrial relations: this was accomplished and TBG's services ended. Employees voted 94% (89% turnout) in favour of union recognition.
  • Cable & Wireless, August 2007, employed TBG when the Communication Workers Union sought recognition 330 at the Central Arbitration Committee.[9] In June 2008 359 ballots were issued and 331 returned representing a 92% vote turnout whereby the Cable and Wireless employees voted 254 to 77 against union recognition. [10]
  • Kettle Chips, 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.[11] Kettle then hired PR firm Hill and Knowlton to improve their image.[12] October 2007, Kettle Chips workers voted against union recognition 206 to 93[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 the Labor Information Services website
  6. ^ see, TBG Labor's privacy policy webpage
  7. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_33_27/ai_n15400243, Chinese Daily News workers face second vote on unionization"]
  8. ^ BBC News, Unions attack mobile phone firm, June 2, 2003
  9. ^ C&W's 'union busters' spark fury, The Independent, 19 August 2007
  10. ^ http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2008/06/24/46442/cwu-fails-to-win-recognition-bid-at-cable-wireless.html "CWU Fails to Win Recognition bid at Cable & Wireless"]
  11. ^ see, Boycott Kettle Chips: the anti-Trade Union snack and boycott kettle crisps for attacks on workers on Facebook
  12. ^ David Hencke, 'Has Kettle had its chips?', The Guardian
  13. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/oct/13/uk.tradeunions "Workers at Kettle Foods vote against joining union"]

References

Union avoidance/busting firms
News reports involving TBG Labor
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