Choosing the right consultant for your union campaign can be a tricky proposition. If you have received a petition from the NLRB recently, you have likely been bombarded with calls, emails, texts, and other messages from attorneys, consulting firms, and independent consultants trying to earn your business. How do you choose the right one from all that noise? You should choose on objectively provable criteria that establishes the level of expertise and confidence your business deserves in this important process. You need qualified, experienced, team players with a demonstrable record of winning elections and winning with integrity.
Qualifications
Qualification for a campaign consultant can be tricky to ascertain. A skilled union campaign manager must wear a lot of hats – observer, planner, communicator, legal analyst, chameleon, and on rare occasions referee. The only way to judge qualification prior to engaging someone is to interview or talk with them. A thorough talk with the consultant that will be assigned to your case should shed light on their ability to analyze your situation and communicate the winning message.
Beware of firms that do not put you in front of the consultant who will be onsite prior to demanding an agreement be signed! Many “firms” are not actually employers of the consultants they hold out to be members of their firms. In fact, most firms use independent contractors. You likely won’t meet them prior to making the decision whether to hire because these “firms” may not know who is even available until they get the deal done.
Independent Contractors – Be Cautious
Independent contractors, by function of the law, cannot be controlled in the details of how they perform their duties. This is the trade off – companies trade “control” and “loyalty” to save money by using independent contractors. There are many instances when this is a perfect solution. High-end, high-stakes consulting is not one of those instances. If a firm sells you on their method or approach to running your campaign, you must have the confidence that whomever executes the campaign adheres to the process you were sold on and approved.
NLRA made the choice long ago to use an employee model for its firm. NLRA controls the training, the execution, and has 100% accountability and responsibility for the results. NLRA decided that saving a little paperwork and cost was not worth the risk to its reputation and its clients’ outcomes.
Experience
Experience matters! Everyone must start somewhere, but this election is so vital to the future of your business, you deserve the most experienced team you can engage. There may be a less experienced consultant assigned to your case by any firm seeking your business, just as law firms assign junior associates to clients. Law firms seek to provide stellar representation to not only advance the relationship but to avoid any failing which may hurt its client relationship or worse, result in a malpractice claim. Reputable firms always assign a senior attorney or team of attorneys to oversee every step a junior associate makes. When hiring a campaign consultant, always ascertain the experience level of the team assigned to your case.
Beware of claims of experience that are too good to be true. One nationwide firm claims 10,000+ union elections won. Technically, that may be an accurate statement, but does it pass the “sniff test”? The NLRB publishes election statistics as part of their public record.
The numbers break down like this: 2012 – 2021
- 14,390 Petitions Filed
- 5,135 Petitions Withdrawn
- 281 Petitions Dismissed
- 12,325 Elections Held
- 8,609 Union Wins (70%)
- 3,716 Company Wins
For a single firm, to secure 10,000+ company wins would take 30 years if they were the ONLY firm or consultancy running campaigns. Truth is there are hundreds of firms, independent consultants, and companies who do union campaign work. Doesn’t pass the “sniff test” and is likely too good to be true.
When assessing experience, talk to the firm or consultant. Ask about their experience. Then, in the words of Ronald Reagan, trust but verify. Ask for references. Call those references. It is impossible to hide from history, but just as impossible to create a history that never happened if your audience is practicing its due diligence.
Teamwork
Teamwork, the buzzword of the last twenty years in the business world, is crucial in this fight to keep your business union-free. You must build a team of trusted company leaders, attorneys, campaign consultants and persuaders, and trusted front-line employees. If one of the elements can’t function in their role on the team the entire project can be in jeopardy. Do the campaign consultants you are considering know the law? Do they have any training in the law governing the union election process?
Failure to know the law can have detrimental effects on your business. Such a failure can lead to negligent actions that have the potential to overturn a company election win. This lack of in-depth knowledge of the legal confines within which the campaign must be conducted can result in serious litigation that can potentially last years and burden the company with exorbitant legal expense
Campaign consultants must have intimate knowledge of the law. They must know that their lane is to win votes but they cannot act in a way that crosses the advice and counsel of the company’s attorneys and expose the business to the liabilities detailed above. You do not have a “win at all cost” luxury in this process. You can win without exposure. You must hire a consultant that knows the law, heeds the direction of your legal team, and works to guide the leadership and other company personnel in the campaign to achieve the desired outcome and avoid unnecessary risks.
There are firms and independents who do a solid job of keeping their clients out of harm’s way while putting up impressive winning numbers. NLRA has not had a single client since the firm’s founding that has received a meritorious objection to the proceeding of the election or unfair labor practice charge as a result of its campaign management. You need a partner that works within the team and protects all the company’s interests while achieving its union-free goal.
Record of Success
No one wins every time, no one. In this undertaking, the unions win 70% of the elections held as demonstrated in the chart above. There are several firms that do have high percentage win rates. NLRA’s rate is currently 96% and is one of a handful of firms who can legitimately claim such. Don’t fall for illusory claims made by marketing or sales people. Ask for the names of recent victories. Ask for the names of recent losses. You don’t have time to check the entire decades long history of a consultant or firm, but you can establish what their recent record is with little effort. Following up on the previous section, ask if any clients were involved in, or continue to be involved in, litigation following any claimed victories.
Integrity
The last thought of the final sentence in the preceding section is a perfect segue to talk about one of the most important things to consider when choosing a campaign consultant – integrity. For many of you, your business exists due to the blood, sweat, and tears of you and your families. Others are leading corporations that have earned high regard in the community and maintaining high standards is vital to the continued growth and success of the business.
Unions have a checkered past, present, and likely future. Their ranks are riddled with those who have committed all sorts of misdeeds. You should take the high road! Look into you potential campaign consultants. It isn’t a tall order. Any consultant or firm that has been around for any length of time has been thoroughly investigated by the unions they are beating. A simple google search will turn up results that will make you think twice about using some consultants. Things like felonies, or saddling clients with costly litigation from bad advice or campaign activities, or even being charged with violating the very labor laws they were hired to advise you about are all very concerning issues.
Conclusion
Bottom line, you don’t want to trust the very future of your business to slick marketing, or catchy phrases. You need assurances that your investment will pay off and protect your business. NLRA’s employee advocates have the qualifications and experience to bring to your team an unmatched record of success. Furthermore, each of our advocates are background-checked and operate with the highest levels of integrity. In the history of the firm, there has not been a single NLRA client that has had to defend against a meritorious finding in an unfair labor practice charge or objection to the proceedings of an election that resulted from its campaign management. Winning at all costs should not mean the cost of your reputation or lost profitability as you litigate following unscrupulous activities of your campaign consultant. Reach out to NLRA today. We got you covered.