Busted: What Florida's union busters have been up to | Dec. 1-15, 2024
A round-up of reported activity by Florida's anti-union labor consultants, and employers in Florida that hire them.
While Florida isn’t exactly a hotbed for organizing activity, the state 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.
More formally known as “persuaders,” these employer-side consultants are hired to conduct union “risk” assessments (union vulnerability audits), train management how to talk down unions (without flagrantly violating federal law on this), 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 a company, while LM-21’s (disclosing payment received or pending) must be filed within 90 days after the end of the filer’s fiscal year.
The idea behind these reporting requirements is to empower workers involved in an organizing drive with the knowledge of any third-party their employer has brought in, and how much they’re paying them — which is ironic, since consultants will often denigrate the union as a “third-party,” too. Often, the going rate for working to maintain a union-free workplace is hundreds of dollars per hour, as you’ll see below.
Here’s what Florida’s union avoidance experts reported so far in December:
Rogelio Rivas, a consultant with the firm Quality Labor Solutions (reportedly based in Los Angeles — the address listed actually belongs to a UPS Store) filed a late report disclosing a union-busting job for Amazon, targeting delivery service partner (DSP) drivers in California who have been organizing with the Teamsters. The job was coordinated through Russ Brown of Road Warrior Productions in Satellite Beach, Florida, who had previously identified Rivas in an earlier report as “Roy,” not Rogelio — and reported Rivas’ address as “N/A.” Rivas himself reports that he was hired in September “to represent Company [Amazon]” and “to inform their employees for purposes of collective bargaining” at a pay rate of $200/hour. The job spanned Sept. 15, 2024 through Nov. 15, 2024, according to his report, and specifically targeted drivers at Amazon’s DPS1 location in El Monte. As Huff Post reported earlier this year, Amazon spent at least $3.1 million on anti-union consultants in 2023, and $14 million in 2022.
Going deeper: Rivas has worked with Brown in the past, as well as union avoidance consultants affiliated with East Coast Labor Relations. That firm, reportedly based in Michigan, uplifts its consultants as former union organizers and officials who “were once the very best and most ardent supporters of worker and collective bargaining rights,” according to its website. One of their consultants, Joe Brock, is a former Teamster and self-described “unabashed liberal union buster” who recently waded back into internal union politics to call Teamsters international president Sean O’Brien a “scab” on LinkedIn. The call-out from Brock, garnering support from other union avoidance consultants, appears to be linked to the union’s decision not to endorse the Harris-Walz ticket for this year’s presidential election.
Johan Pena, a union avoidance consultant from Miami, was hired through the Labor Relations Institute in November to convince productions workers, housekeeping, shipping workers and drivers employed by Premier Brands of America Inc in Hudson, New York not to unionize with the Teamsters Local 294. According to a report filed by the LRI president Phil Wilson, Premier Brands of America — a manufacturer and marketing company — agreed to pay the LRI a rate of $425/hour, plus “reasonable travel expenses” for the job. According to records kept by the National Labor Relations Board, the employer filed a petition for a union election for the workers in October, indicating that a majority of workers had asked their employer for voluntary union recognition. Ultimately, however, workers voted 15 to 25 against unionization on Nov. 19, less than two weeks after Pena was hired.
Going deeper: The Labor Relations Institute is one of the most prominent union-busting firms in the country, and was even recently hired by Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho (because there’s no way to cope with an abortion access crisis like throwing money at consultants who dedicate themselves to successfully crushing union activity — but I digress).
“Workers at Premier Brands of America in Hudson are taking on the union busting happening by the company and standing strong together. Workers are still demanding the company to recognize their union without an election but are preparing for an election!” reads an Oct. 17 post on X from Teamsters Local 294.
Right-wing union buster Peter List of Logic Labor Relations recruited labor consultant Niles Commer of Sarasota in November to convince employees of Jersey Elevator in Aberdeen, New Jersey that they don’t need a union. No specific union is mentioned as target. List reports, however, that his firm was hired at a rate of $3,500/day, “plus actual and reasonable expenses,” to conduct “voluntary classes” with employees that provide information “regarding exercising their rights to organize and bargain collectively according to the [National Labor Relations Act].” List, a past CPAC panelist and (at least at one point) QAnon conspiracy theorist, identifies the job as “ongoing.” List’s firm was also hired in June to bust organizing activity among employees of a Hello Fresh subsidiary in Arizona and Sysco employees in Medley, Florida organizing with the Teamsters Local 769.
Joseph Radic, a labor consultant based in New Jersey, filed an amended report with the feds disclosing a job he did for the Orlando-based Labor Pros in September, targeting a union drive among drivers for Adusa Transportation in Dunn, North Carolina who sought to unionize with the Teamsters Local 391. Radic reports that he was hired from Sept. 17 through Oct. 9 at a rate of $75/hour to conduct anti-union meetings with managers and employees to “address potential confusions, ensuring clarity and understanding” of workers’ union rights under the National Labor Relations Act. Nekeya Nunn, head of the Labor Pros, filed her own report disclosing this job in October. According to her report, Radic was one of three consultants she enlisted for the job, along with Rachel Chin of Oviedo, Florida and Mildred Black of Birmingham, Alabama. Radic had previously filed a report disclosing his involvement with this job in October, but offered fewer details about what exactly he was contracted to do, and who he would be directly communicating with. According to the National Labor Relations Board, the drivers ultimately voted 83 to 107 against unionization; however, the union has filed objections to the election since, so the case remains open.
Marcia Carter, a union avoidance labor consultant from Clermont, filed a report more than a year late disclosing a union-busting job for Quest Diagnostics that her coworker Aaron Butler was reportedly contracted for last August. According to Carter’s report, Butler was hired through fellow Amazon union buster Penne Famalusi-Jackson of the Vindex Group to convince Quest Diagnostic drivers in Abbeville, Georgia not to unionize with the Teamsters Local 728. Carter herself doesn’t disclose where this job took place, but a representative of Quest Diagnostics does in the company’s own annual financial disclosure report. According to the National Labor Relations Board, Quest Diagnostics employees in San Diego, California also launched an organizing drive around this time, and records show another labor consultant — Jason Greer — was hired to target that organizing drive, too. Florida Man Aaron Butler was reportedly on the job in Georgia from Aug. 30 through Oct. 11 with Emigdio Arias, another anti-union consultant similarly hired to union-bust on behalf of the Vindex Group. Quest Diagnostics reportedly paid the firm at least $120,572 for the job.
“These workers overcame an aggressive anti-union campaign at Quest and successfully voted to organize their facility,” said Matt Higdon, President of Local 728 in Atlanta. “We could not be more excited to welcome these members to the Teamsters and we look forward to getting them their very first Teamster contract.”
Russell “Russ” Brown, head of Road Warrior Productions in Satellite Beach, was hired in late October by XL Concrete and Masonry to convince mason workers in Las Vegas, Nevada not to unionize with the Arriba Las Vegas Worker Center, a “grassroots organization that unites day laborers, domestic workers, and other low-wage and migrant workers”. Records show Brown enlisted two consultants — Jose Palacios and Angel Cornejo, both from California — for the job, which began Nov. 6 and is identified by Brown as “ongoing.” According to their agreement, filed with the Office of Labor Management Standards, the employer agreed to pay Brown’s firm a flat daily rate of $3,800 per day, per consultant, plus “reasonable expenses” ( i.e. hotel, transportation costs, and a $70 per diem). The objective? “To educate your staff of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act and inform them of the consequences of third-party interference. The gravity of the legal consequences of signing an Authorization Card. To help your management team navigate the pitfalls of an organizing campaign,” per the agreement.
Going deeper: According to reporting from the Nevada Current, XL is the parent company of Black Iron Reinforcing, a concrete reinforcing contractor whose workers have faced delay tactics from their employer after voting to unionize with the Ironworkers in Nevada in Sept. 2022. “From 2014 through 2023, XL Concrete, the parent company of Black Iron, had 29 safety violations in Nevada, according to the National Council of Occupational Safety and Health. Faced with labor violations and dangerous working conditions, Black Iron workers say their only option is to fight for changes at the company through unionization,” the Current reported earlier this year.
That’s it for now. Any thoughts? Feedback on format? Drop a comment below.
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