United States employers spend $1.7 billion annually opposing labor unions, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and LaborLab found.
They hire anti-union consultants and union-avoidance law firms, which specialize in representing companies that are fighting union organizing campaigns, stalling negotiations on collective bargaining agreements and representing them at National Labor Relations Board proceedings.
EPI estimated that U.S. employers spend $442 million a year on union-avoidance consultants alone. Filings with the U.S. Department of Labor by Amazon show that the behemoth online retail employer spent $26.6 million on them in 2025.
“This is millions or even billions of dollars that’s not going towards workers and investing into their workplace,” said EPI senior policy analyst Margaret Poydock.
These law firms and consultants are partly responsible for the decline in union membership and density in recent decades, Poydock said. Union density is 10% nationally, compared with 20.3% in 1983. But Gallup polls have found that nearly 70% of Americans support unions.
The firm Littler Mendelson has its own Workplace Policy Institute that has opposed legislation to expand workers’ rights, the report noted. Its clients have included Amazon, Starbucks and Delta Air Lines.
The Guardian, May 20