LaborLab has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) alleging unreported persuader activity at Skyworks, LLC’s Decatur, Alabama location.
According to people with direct knowledge of the events, Skyworks convened a meeting of bargaining unit employees approximately two days before a scheduled ratification vote on a proposed first contract with the International Union of Operating Engineers. Two outside consultants — known only as “Nick” and “Keith” — and the company’s own negotiating attorney, Christopher McHale, allegedly participated in the meeting and made direct contact with workers for the purpose of persuading them to reject the contract.
Nick, who reportedly identified himself as a former union rep and organizer turned management consultant, made substantive arguments about the contract’s health insurance provisions. Keith allegedly went further — explicitly instructing workers to attend the ratification meeting en masse and take coordinated action to disrupt and delay the vote. McHale, despite having negotiated the contract on behalf of Skyworks, allegedly appeared before workers to advise them to vote it down and demand a delay.
All three individuals are required under LMRDA Section 203(b) to disclose their persuader agreements with Skyworks. LaborLab found no LM-20 or LM-21 filings by any of them in connection with this campaign. That matters. The union-busting industry thrives in the dark — consultants move from campaign to campaign, coaching employers to undermine worker organizing, and workers are often left with no way to know who is in the room working against them or what they are being paid to do. The LMRDA’s disclosure requirements exist to change that. When persuaders fail to file, they aren’t just breaking the law — they are denying workers information they are legally entitled to have before one of the most important votes of their working lives.