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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 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 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".[5]

"TBG emphasizes that all employees have a legally protected right to either organize or remain union free. This decision can only be made after both management and the union communicate their positions such that employees have clear understandings of how both sides of the union free vs. pro union options will impact their future as well as their employer’s." [6] Template: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.[7]

TBG operates a subsidiary called Labor Information Services, Inc.(LIS) with "professional labor relations consultants (many of whom are bilingual) who talk directly to the voters and explain the facts about unions to clearly communicate management's position on union recognition".[8] The website says 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."[9]


TBG has a strong privacy policy for employers to consult in confidence.[10]

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. [11] Note: In the U.S. supervisors are not permitted to take part in card signing or be members of the bargaining unit. CDN management paid LIS $221,737 in 2001, $24,489.07 in 2002, and $480,462 in 2004. In September 2005 the union lost a rerun of the election 92-52. In March 2004, in an action unrelated to TBG, not governed by the NLRB, CDN employees filed a class action suit in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California for Wage and Hour violations governed by the Dept. of Labor. It must be noted that the U.S. Dept of Labor is not part of the NLRB and TBG does not advise in Dept. of Labor or Wage and Hour legal issues. In March 2008 employees won their case against CDN and were awarded $2.5 million in penalties and interest for back pay. [12]. The verdict is currently under appeal in the Ninth District Court of Appeals.[13]
  • 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.[14]
  • 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.[15] 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. [16]
  • 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.[17] Kettle then hired PR firm Hill and Knowlton to improve their image.[18] October 2007, Kettle Chips workers voted against union recognition 206 to 93[19].

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 Website, Services, Union Free Advantage, here
  6. ^ see, TBGLabor Website, About US [1]
  7. ^ Logan, U.S. Anti-Union Consultants: A Threat to the Rights of British Workers (2008) pp.6
  8. ^ See the Labor Information Services website website
  9. ^ See labor Information Services website [2]
  10. ^ see, TBG Labor's privacy policy webpage
  11. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_33_27/ai_n15400243, Chinese Daily News workers face second vote on unionization"]
  12. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/01/business/fi-newspaper1, "Paper must pay in wage and hour case"]
  13. ^ http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=0d59303b3f6f127482b95f7f7c0a4ca7, "Chinese Daily News to Appeal Verdict"]
  14. ^ BBC News, Unions attack mobile phone firm, June 2, 2003
  15. ^ C&W's 'union busters' spark fury, The Independent, 19 August 2007
  16. ^ 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"]
  17. ^ see, Boycott Kettle Chips: the anti-Trade Union snack and boycott kettle crisps for attacks on workers on Facebook
  18. ^ David Hencke, 'Has Kettle had its chips?', The Guardian
  19. ^ 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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