Recent federal disclosures have exposed the staggering sums employers spend to prevent workers from organizing. This week’s reveal companies paying up to $4,000 per day for anti-union consultants.
Follow the Money
The latest Department of Labor filings show employers across healthcare, logistics, media production, and other industries investing heavily in union avoidance. Two employers this week retained East Coast Labor Relations at the eye-popping rate of $4,000 per day: Samaritan in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey and ImageFirst in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, where Teamsters Local 830 had already won representation.
General Trucking LLC in Warren, Michigan hired Labor Consulting Group at $425 per hour to combat an organizing effort by Teamsters Local 20. Globecast America, a media services company in Westlake Village, California, brought in RoadWarrior Productions at $3,800 per day as workers sought representation with CWA Local 53.
These consultant fees represent substantial corporate expenditures and money that could instead be used for wage increases, improved benefits, or workplace safety enhancements. Instead, it’s being deployed to discourage employees from exercising their legal right to organize.
When Workers Win Despite the Odds
The filings also reveal victories that demonstrate workers’ determination in the face of professional opposition. At Timber Ridge SNF Operations (doing business as River View Nursing and Rehabilitation Center) in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, workers voted 30-22 for union representation with UFCW 1776, though objections have been filed. Notably, the union-busting consultant’s LM-20 form—disclosing they had hired an individual consultant—wasn’t filed until after the election had concluded on January 8th, denying workers and the public access to this critical information during the campaign.
At ImageFirst in Pennsylvania, workers successfully defended their union in a decertification election, voting 12-1 to maintain Teamsters representation despite the company’s $4,000-per-day consultant. The LM-20 form was filed after the December 19th vote had already taken place.
Electric Supply Center in Burlington, Massachusetts also saw workers vote to keep their union representation with Teamsters Local 25, though the company had hired MSC Labor Relations and Legislative Consulting months earlier in August 2025.
The Transparency Gap
While LM-20 filings provide crucial insight into employer conduct, several of this week’s entries highlight ongoing problems with the disclosure system. Multiple forms were filed only after elections had already concluded, undermining the purpose of transparency during active campaigns. Some filings lack complete information about compensation arrangements or election outcomes.
The pattern is clear: workers across healthcare facilities, trucking companies, media operations, and other workplaces face coordinated resistance from highly paid consultants when they attempt to organize. These professionals bring well-established tactics designed to discourage unionization, including mandatory meetings, one-on-one conversations, and carefully crafted messaging.
What This Means for Workers
For workers in active organizing campaigns, these disclosures offer important information: when your employer hires expensive consultants, it signals they’re taking your organizing efforts seriously. The substantial investment in union avoidance—sometimes thousands of dollars per day—demonstrates that employers recognize the power shift that collective bargaining represents.
Workers should approach mandatory meetings, supervisor conversations, and company communications about unions with informed skepticism during organizing campaigns. The messaging has likely been developed by highly compensated professionals whose job is to discourage unionization, not to provide balanced information about workers’ rights.
As this week’s victories at Timber Ridge, ImageFirst, and Electric Supply Center demonstrate, even expensive consultants can’t always overcome workers’ determination to organize for better conditions, fair treatment, and a collective voice on the job.
When companies hire $4,000/day consultants to fight worker organizing, LaborLab makes sure workers know about it. Help us continue monitoring and publishing these critical disclosures by supporting our work today.