How is "union avoidance" even a service that can be offered by companies? The listed examples of their business practices sound downright perverse to me
It's also downright illegal in many (all?) European countries, as US companies often like to find out. Not the kind of 'mistake' that just gets your company fined either - it's the kind that can land you in prison.
Even the US has some forms of protections, which is likely why that is not how that "union avoidance" service is described very differently by the company itself.
In what concerns Europe, I am aware that there are lawyers that offer such services, they avoid the legal issues by not being explicit what what it actually means in practice and then there is the whole customer/lawyer confidentiality part.
"Union avoidance consultants, often hired as independent contractors
which allows firms to circumvent federal reporting requirements, often
work with multiple clients at once, sometimes parachuting into a
worksite for just a few weeks or days to train managers and hold
"educational" meetings with workers.
Tracking the union avoidance firms behind anti-union campaigns is
intentionally made difficult by firms that subcontract out work to
other firms that hire independent contractors to avoid federal
reporting requirements laid out by the Department of Labor and shield
themselves from public scrutiny."
It really does seem that in this day and age, the "independent contractor" classification is just a legal car wash. At some point contractors have to become an auxiliary appendage to the corporation, but I don't know what point that is. I do know it's another symptom of a dysfunctional system where many things just don't 'feel' right.
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[ 4.3 ms ] story [ 34.6 ms ] threadEven the US has some forms of protections, which is likely why that is not how that "union avoidance" service is described very differently by the company itself.
It will be interesting to see if there is any enforcement against US companies operating in Europe.