The DNC Is Still Contracting With Firms That Fight Against Unions
Labor unions sought to pressure the DNC into banning anti-union vendors in 2022, but a review of FEC disbursements data reveals the party group is still paying millions of dollars to firms that offer union avoidance services.
Nearly two years ago, after the influential Democratic consulting firm Global Strategy Group was pressured by labor leaders to drop its work helping Amazon combat a union election at a Staten Island warehouse, the Democratic Party took to the media to float a reform proposal that would defend unions.
A DNC spokesperson told Politico that they were reviewing a “union-drafted addendum” that would prohibit Democratic Party consultants—or any of its parents, subsidiaries or affiliates—from engaging in a variety of anti-union activities, including “aiding an employer in a labor dispute or lobbying against union-backed legislation.” Union officials expressed confidence to Politico that the addendum would be enshrined by the DNC. AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler commended what she called the DNC’s “decision to amend their contract and RFP processes,” and the proposal was initially portrayed in the media as a done deal, though it was never officially announced by the DNC.
Now, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is not saying if it ever adopted the addendum and a review of Democratic Party consultants over the past year and a half reveals that it is still working with consulting firms that help companies fight unions.
In March 2022, after CNBC reported Global Strategy Group’s involvement at the Amazon workplace in producing anti-union materials, attending anti-union “captive audience” meetings, and monitoring the social media of union organizers, outcry among labor leaders was fierce. The firm, GSG for short, which worked for dozens of prominent Democratic groups in the 2018 and 2020 election cycles, soon apologized and said it would resign the Amazon anti-union work.
