May 21, 2026
Union Busting, Wallet Busting
US employers spend more than $1.5B a year to fight labor unions, report finds
Bosses spend billions blocking unions, and commenters say workers know exactly why
TLDR: A new report says US employers spend over $1.5 billion a year fighting unions instead of putting that money into workers. Commenters were split between furious claims that it proves companies fear fair pay and skeptical takes that fighting unions is just another business cost.
America’s union fight just got a very expensive price tag: a new Economic Policy Institute report says US employers spend more than $1.5 billion a year pushing back against labor unions. That means money for anti-union consultants, lawyers, and legal battles instead of, as critics bluntly put it, workers’ paychecks. The comments instantly turned into a full-on class-war roast session, with one person sniping that companies are “just spending all the money they saved from the wage theft,” while another cut straight to the point: it’s simply cheaper to suppress unions than pay fair salaries. Ouch.
But this thread was not one big group hug. A few people slammed the brakes on the outrage train and argued the number was actually smaller than expected compared with giant corporate revenues. One commenter even framed it like a cold business bargain: if unions spend big to pressure employers, then spending $1.5 billion to resist them is just “defense.” And then came the classic warning shot: maybe unions can get too powerful too. So yes, the replies were a spicy mix of righteous anger, cynicism, bean-counting, and “hold on, not so fast” skepticism.
The backdrop makes it even messier. Union membership in the US has fallen to about 10%, even though roughly 70% of Americans say they approve of unions. That gap had commenters reading the story less as a boring policy report and more as a brutal money trail: if companies are willing to spend this much to stop organizing, workers must be threatening something very real.
Key Points
- •The Economic Policy Institute estimates that US employers spend more than $1.5 billion annually on efforts opposing labor unions.
- •The report says employers spend about $442 million a year on union-avoidance consultants alone.
- •Amazon spent $26.6 million in 2025 on union-avoidance consultants, according to filings cited in the article.
- •The article says US union density has fallen to 10%, down from 20.3% in 1983, while Gallup reports nearly 70% public approval of labor unions.
- •The report highlights Littler Mendelson's role in union campaigns and its policy activity around California AB5 and Proposition 22.