US employers spend more than $1.5bn a year on labor union opposition efforts, according to a report published on Wednesday by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Employers spent company money hiring consultants and law firms specializing in union avoidance and on legal counsel, representation, and litigation services during union elections and organizing campaigns.
US employers spend $442m on union-avoidance consultants annually, according to an estimate by the EPI. Amazon alone spent $26.6m in 2025 on union-avoidance consultants, based on filings with the US Department of Labor.
An Amazon spokesperson blamed external groups for hiring union-avoidance consultants. “It’s important that our teammates and partners understand the truth, so we’ve continued to work with experts in the field who are able to share objective facts about what it actually means to have an external party take their voice,” they said in an email.
“This is millions or even billions of dollars that’s not going towards workers and investing into their workplace,” said Margaret Poydock, a co-author of the report and a senior policy analyst at the EPI.
Poydock attributed the decline of unionization membership and density over the past several decades, in part, to the role of these union-avoidance law firms and consultants. Union density in the US is now at 10%, compared with 20.3% in 1983.
Despite this decline, Gallup polls report nearly 70% of Americans approve of labor unions.
The report noted that one of the law firms, Littler Mendelson, which has represented Amazon, Starbucks and Delta Air Lines in union campaigns, has its own Workplace Policy Institute.
Through the institute, the law firm has tracked and opposed legislation aimed at expanding workers’ rights, such as opposing AB5 in California, a bill that sought to combat worker misclassification, and supporting Prop 22, which allowed ride-share apps and others to continue classifying drivers as independent contractors, not employees.
“These law firms and consultants are essentially exploiting loopholes and weaknesses in our federal labor law and reporting requirements for these persuaders reports, but despite that, workers are still organizing, they are still winning elections and reaching first contracts,” said Poydock. “They’re trying to erode worker rights, not just for union workers or workers trying to form unions, but workers at large.”
Teke Wiggin, a co-author of the report and strategic coordinator at the non-profit LaborLab, emphasized US employers already leverage significant power over workers and the use of union-avoidance consultants and law firms further magnifies that imbalance.
A previous report by the EPI found that US employers are charged with violating labor law in 41.5% of all union elections. Through delay tactics and appeals, it takes an average of 465 days for workers to reach a first union contract, and it can be much longer in many cases, such as at Starbucks, where workers have yet to reach a first contract since the first US store won a union election in 2021.
“Employers always have the choice to voluntarily recognize a union or agree to a neutrality agreement,” said Wiggin. “If they don’t, that’s a choice to try to bend the will of workers who are seeking to exercise their rights to free association, and that’s immoral and offensive to democratic values and the right to free association.”
