Busted: What Florida's union busters have been up to | March 2025 (Part 1)
A round-up of reported activity by Florida's anti-union labor consultants, and employers in Florida that hire them.
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While Florida isn’t exactly a hotbed for organizing activity, the state (surprisingly or not) happens to be home to some of the most active anti-union labor consultants in the country. Such consultants, described by critics as “union busters,” are hired by employers to convince workers not to form or join a union. Some of these consultants are attorneys, others are not.
These employer-side consultants, also known as “persuaders,” are hired to conduct union “risk” assessments (assessing how vulnerable the employer is to union organizing activity), train management on how to talk down unions (without flagrantly violating federal law), and/or directly persuade employees “to exercise or not to exercise, or persuade employees as to the manner of exercising, the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing.”
Ground rules: Under federal law, persuaders are required to file reports with the federal Office of Labor Management Services when they enter into agreements with employers. These forms are known as LM-20s and LM-21s. When filled out correctly, they offer a snapshot of what persuaders are hired to do, and how much money they’re getting out of it. Employers are similarly required to file similar reports (LM-10s) annually, detailing how much they’ve spent on union busting or “persuader” activity.
LM-20’s (detailing a job) must be filed within 30 days of entering into an agreement with an employer, while LM-21’s (detailing payment) must be filed within 90 days after the end of the filer’s fiscal year.
The idea behind these reporting requirements is to provide workers involved in union organizing drives with information of any third-party individuals their employer has brought in to “educate” them (as they often describe it), and how much their employer is paying them to do so. Often, the going rate for persuaders is hundreds of dollars per hour, as you’ll read below.
*Note: I changed up the format of these filings a bit — Let me know what you think.
Here is what Florida’s union avoidance experts reported in the first half of March:
Russell Brown, CEO of the anti-union consulting firm RoadWarrior Productions in Satellite Beach, FL, was hired by Amazon in January to specifically target organizing activity at Amazon’s RDU1 facility in Garner, NC, where Amazon workers were preparing to vote on whether to unionize with the worker-led Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity & Empowerment (CAUSE) labor union. According to Brown’s report, Amazon officially entered into an agreement with Brown on Jan. 2 for the job, although he notes the job actually lasted from Dec. 30, 2024 through Feb. 15 — the date of the election. Workers at the facility, located in a state with the lowest union membership rate in the country, ultimately voted 829 to 2447 against unionization. Objections to the election, alleging unlawful conduct by the employer, have been filed by the union since, however. Of note: Brown — a long-time union avoidance professional and former Delta Airlines employee — does not list the consultants he subcontracted for the North Carolina job, even though he provides Amazon with a cost estimate for three consultants in his agreement (attached below) with the e-commerce giant. The total cost estimate Brown provided? $366,360 for roughly six weeks of work.
Ongoing or concluded? Ongoing-ish
Who prevailed? Employer; Vote was 829 to 2447 against unionization
Payment: $475/hour or $3,800 daily rate (Total estimate: $366,360)
“If you’re on the floor talking to somebody, they will be there waiting like vultures to get to the person that you just talked to,” Italo Medelius-Marsano, an Amazon RDU1 employee, told Labor Notes ahead of the election. “They’ve already figured out who the union leaders are. They have very good intelligence. It’s almost like they’re union organizers, but on the other side.”
Russell Brown, CEO of RoadWarrior Productions in Satellite Beach, FL, also reportedly enlisted Keith Williams, a former teacher and vocal anti-union advocate involved in the national right-to-work movement, in Oct. 2024 and this past Jan. to convince Amazon workers at Amazon’s DSD5 facility in Vista, CA and Amazon’s DJZ4 facility in Kearney, NJ, respectively, not to unionize with the Teamsters. Williams notes in his LM-20 report, filed months late, that he was hired simply to “educate employees of their rights under the NLRA [National Labor Relations Act].” Williams previously reported that he was enlisted, again by Brown, to “educate” employees at Amazon’s DLN2 facility in Cicero, IL last fall. Williams and Brown have worked together on several projects, including an effort by right-wing groups to dismantle Florida’s public sector unions.
Ongoing or concluded? Unclear
Who prevailed? Unclear
Payment: $2,000/day for Williams
Joseph Brock, president of East Coast Labor Relations/Reliant Labor Consultants in Michigan, subcontracted a team of 11 union avoidance professionals in February, including three from Florida, to convince phlebotomists for LabCorp/Laboratory Corporation of America in Tucker, GA not to unionize. According to Brock’s report, the organizing drive is “pre-petition,” meaning workers haven’t yet filed a petition for a union election. He does not specify which union his team is specifically targeting. The Florida-based labor consultants Brock subcontracted for the job include: Sean Lyles of Unboxted LLC in Orlando; John “Spike” Cosky of Cosky Consulting (a former Teamster who now dabbles in union avoidance from Clermont); and Niles Commer of Employee/Mgmt Labor in Sarasota. The job reportedly involved “Giving speeches, preparing written materials for distribution, and holding /conducting meetings with management and employees,” according to Brock. The job began Feb. 9 and is identified by Brock (a longtime go-to for LabCorp) as “ongoing.” Records show Brock’s firm was also hired to bust organizing activity among LabCorp workers in Portland, OR in January who ultimately voted 79 to 23 in favor of unionizing with the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, anyway. Brock, a self-described “unabashed liberal union buster” and former president of a Teamsters local, has (like some others in his industry) defended his work as pro-worker. You can catch a recent interview/discussion he had with The Valley Labor Report where he sort of describes his line of thinking here. Federal records (LM-10 reports) show LabCorp has paid Brock’s firm hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years to counter union organizing drives.
Ongoing or concluded? Ongoing
Who prevailed? Unclear (at least in the Georgia case)
Payment: $3500/day plus travel expenses per consultant, plus a per diem meal cost of $60/day per consultant, according to Brock’s agreement with LabCorp
“Last night Labcorp #Providence workers celebrated after they successfully voted to unionize by 77%! They are fighting for the same issues most healthcare workers are: safe staffing, living wages, and a better future for patient care! This is the thirteen Labcorp facilitated we have unionized in recent months, reaching upwards of 600 workers. Lab workers are organizing across the country in an attempt to improve an industry that has been decimated by for-profit contracting and short staffing.” — Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP) via Instagram.
Wildine Pierre, a union avoidance consultant affiliated with Bridge Labor Solutions in Altamonte Springs, FL, was enlisted by Michael Dana Penn of the anti-union Crossroads Group in February to convince Capstone Logistics workers in Pompano Beach, FL not to unionize with the Teamsters “and Unions in general.” Pierre’s job, described by Penn as “ongoing,” reportedly involves providing anti-union presentations, meeting with workers, and preparing anti-union “written materials” to distribute among the workforce. As you may or may not recall from one of my October roundups, Pierre was also subcontracted by Penn to convince Capstone Logistics employees in Sarasota, FL not to unionize with the Teamsters “and Unions in general” in September, too. Drivers for Capstone Logistics in South Florida voted to join the Teamsters Local 769 themselves in 2022, but there’s no matching case filings for more recent organizing drives (via the NLRB) in either Sarasota or Pompano Beach. It’s possible the organizing drive is pre-petition, or the union-busting gig itself is just a preemptive move by Capstone Logistics to keep unions out of the workplace.
Ongoing or concluded? Unclear
Who prevailed? Unclear
Payment: $450/hour, “plus reasonable and customary expenses”
That’s it for this roundup! Let me know what you think by dropping a comment below or by contacting me directly.