I’m not going to lie to you . . . the law isn’t great when it comes to requiring union-busting law firms and direct persuaders to disclose information about their activities, but it is (usually) possible to at least figure out a few key pieces of information.

For example, you may be able to find out how much these consultants are paid per hour (often many hundreds of dollars), or how much the company has paid them over the course of a campaign. It might catch the attention of undecided workers if, for instance, the company claims it doesn’t have a penny to pay a fair wage, but it just spent $200,000 on pricey consultants to tell them how to vote. Knowing which campaigns a consultant has worked on in the past can also help you prepare for what’s coming down the pike. Union busters tend to use the same playbook over and over again. If you know where they worked before, you might be able to get in touch with organizers from the campaign and find out what exactly what tricks are up their sleeves.

Step 1: Make Sure You Have the Name of the Consultant Right

This sounds obvious, but it can be trickier than you think. Frequently, smaller consulting firms (often a single individual) contract with a larger firm such as the Labor Relations Institute (LRI). You’ll want to know both the individual on the shop floor (who may be the face of the boss’s campaign to workers) and the company that holds the contract (that is probably calling the shots from their usual playbook). Workers are probably the best resource for doing this type of research. Train them to ask detailed questions of the direct persuaders, write down the names of every person and company they hear that’s connected to the anti-union campaign, and bring you copies of every piece of literature the anti-union consultant hands out.

You may also find that a single anti-union consultant may do business under two names. The direct persuader (the one who is on the shop floor talking to workers) may operate under a different corporate name than the entity that is advising the company on strategy behind the scenes—even if they are the exact same individual. You may have to search for the consultant’s web site, or research the company names in state corporation records.

Tip: If you don’t have information from workers or other sources about the name of the management-side consultant, you may be able to find it by searching for a form LM 10. (That process is described in Step 2.)

Step 2: Get the Documents From the U.S. Department of Labor

The U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards is responsible for keeping the reports that unions and management-side consultants must file (often referred to as “LM reports.”). Visit the Online Public Disclosure Room (or just Google “LM-20 search” and it should come up at the top of the list). It will look like this:

*The LM report search page on the U.S. DOL web site. Click on the image to enlarge.*

There are four kinds of reports available here:

LM 10: Filed by the employer detailing any payments made to influence any union bargaining or organizing campaign, including any payments made to unions. If you’re looking for which anti-union consultants a particular employer has used, start with the LM-10.
LM 20: Filed by management-side consultants who directly interact with employees in the bargaining unit (“direct persuaders”) or seek to find out information about these employees. Remember, not every anti-union consultant hired by an employer is subject to these reporting requirements. (For example, the attorney who advises the company behind the scenes is exempt.) Only consultants that directly interact with workers need to report.
LM 21: Every individual or firm that files an LM-20 must also file an LM 21, which covers any payments that were made or received by the consultant. This is the money document. Be sure you download both the LM 20 and the LM 21.
LM 30: Filed by union officers and employees if they engaged in certain financial transactions. These are not relevant to researching anti-union consultants.

Once you know what you’re looking for, just click on the form name in the “view reports online” section on the left-hand side of the page. Fill in the information you need, and download PDF copies of the form to your computer.

Tip: Even if you can’t find an LM firm for your particular employer, try searching on the consultant name. You can at least get a sense of how much they charge, the names of individual consultants, and other valuable information. Also, sometimes you can find a record of the consultant’s relationship with your employer of interest in an LM 21 even if the LM 10 for that same relationship is missing.

Step 3: Search to See What Else You Can Find About the Consultant

There might be other valuable information hiding in plain sight. Use your favorite search tool to find out if individual consultants or their firms were involved in any scandals or lawsuits. If the union-buster in question is a former union official or staff member (many are), try to find out why he or she left their union. Maybe they were voted out by unsatisfied members, or forced to leave because of some alleged wrongdoing.

Step 4: Sign Up to Get Updates When Consultants File New Documents

A side project of a union researcher, Union Buster Alerts is a quick and easy way to get notified every time a consultant files a new document related to activities. All you need to do is go to the web site, enter your email address, and enter the union in which you are interested. Every time a consultant files a new document related to that union, you get an email with a link to the file.