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Littler Mendelson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Workplace Policy Institute)

Littler Mendelson, P.C.
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, US
No. of offices100[1]
No. of attorneys1,900[1]
Major practice areasLabor and employment
Key peopleErin A. Webber (president and managing director)
Date founded1942
Company typeProfessional corporation
Websitelittler.com Edit this at Wikidata

Littler Mendelson P.C. (often known as Littler)[a] is a multinational American law firm specializing in labor law. The company is known for its union busting practices, acting on behalf of business management against organized labor efforts,[2][3][4][5] and is the largest law firm for union avoidance in the United States.[6][7] Founded in 1942 in San Francisco, the firm expanded nationwide in the late 1990s and internationally in the 2010s, and has 100 offices in 28 countries.[1]

Littler has advised its clients to use a variety of strategies to obstruct unionization, including captive audience meetings, anti-union messaging, and delaying union elections.[8][9] The firm and its in-house lobbying group, the Workplace Policy Institute (WPI), have opposed laws and policies that would ease unionization and shield workers seeking union recognition from employer retaliation.[10]

Littler has represented organisations including Amazon, Apple, Delta Air Lines, Nissan, Starbucks, and the Wikimedia Foundation.

History

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Littler Mendelson was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1942, when the National War Labor Board was active in mediating labor disputes, and dedicated its practice to advising employers on unionization and collective bargaining issues. Beginning in the 1960s, Littler pivoted away from union substitution (the act of providing non-union employees with similar benefits as union employees to discourage unionization) and started deploying more aggressive strategies to suppress union formation. The firm broadened its scope to encompass other areas of employment law in the 1970s in response to decreased union membership, a plan spearheaded by named partners Wesley Fastiff and Garry Mathiason.[a][3] Littler remained local to the Bay Area until the 1990s, when it expanded throughout the US via mergers and acquisitions.[12]

The firm created its International Practice Group in 2000 to handle employment issues that span multiple jurisdictions.[3] In 2010, the firm announced an international labor and employment law office in Caracas, Venezuela; this office subsequently joined Ius Laboris in 2012.[13] The firm opened two offices in Mexico under the name Littler, De la Vega y Conde, S.C.[14] In October 2013, Littler combined with two Latin American law firms, adding a presence in four additional countries in the Latin American region – Colombia, Costa Rica,[15] El Salvador, and Panama,[16] – and creating a new entity named Littler Global.[17] The firm continued expanding through Littler Global, opening offices in Puerto Rico,[18] the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Peru,[19] and Guatemala.

Union busting

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Littler has a reputation for union busting,[2][3][4] and is the largest union avoidance firm in the US.[6][7] It has counseled and defended companies including Starbucks, Amazon, Nissan, and Delta Air Lines against employees trying to unionize.[2] In 2007, Littler stated that it helped employers implement "union prevention tools" and provided "union avoidance training programs".[5] In 2015, Law Business Research described Littler as having an "'unrivalled reputation' in handling labour and employment matters across its US and global offices".[20] Littler's attorneys have advertised that they help corporations "respond to efforts by labor unions and non-governmental organizations to discredit them through global campaigns".[21][22][23]

At the Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant, Littler successfully petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to delay a union election. Under Littler's advisement, Volkswagen Group of America management disseminated anti-union messaging in flyers, newsletters, pre-shift meetings, and a captive audience meeting with Tennessee governor Bill Lee, which contributed to the plant workers opposing unionization by a close margin in 2019.[9] The plant workers later unionized under United Auto Workers in 2024.[4]

Starbucks hired over 110 Littler attorneys to counter Starbucks Workers United's unionization efforts initiated in mid-2021.[6][7] With counsel from Littler, Starbucks implemented captive audience meetings, delivered anti-union messaging spam, restricted employees at union stores from obtaining pay raises, and accelerated hiring immediately before union elections.[8][7] The company stalled union elections until December 2021 and had not negotiated a labor contract with any of its unionized stores as of June 2023, despite the union's 330 election wins at the time.[6][8][24] According to the NLRB's May 2023 records, Littler and Starbucks (including a Starbucks subsidiary) have accumulated over 550 charges of unfair labor practices.[25] The NLRB has verified approximately 350 of the charges and filed 100 complaints against Starbucks, as of June 2023.[24]

Littler was hired by Apple in response to Apple Store staff in the US voting to unionize in 2022. Apple circulated talking points to managers (who had been coached by Littler) for use in captive audience meetings, implying that staff might lose career opportunities or flexibility in their working hours if the union plans went ahead. Similar talking points had also been used by Amazon and Starbucks as part of their anti-union drives.[26][27][28][29]

In 2026, the Wikimedia Foundation retained Littler Mendelson to represent the foundation before the National Labor Relations Board after declining a request for voluntary recognition from Wiki Workers United, a labor union formed by employees of the foundation and affiliated with the Communications Workers of America.[30][31][undue weight? – discuss]

Lobbying and policy views

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In the 2000s, Littler published articles opposing the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would ease the use of the card check method for unionization and increase penalties against companies who retaliated against employees for attempting to unionize.[5][10]

Littler established its lobbying organization, the Workplace Policy Institute (WPI), in 2012.[10] The WPI is co-chaired by Maury Baskin, who repeatedly challenged labor regulations implemented by the United States Department of Labor and the NLRB during the Obama administration,[32] including the persuader rule that required law firms such as Littler to publicly disclose when employers hired them for anti-union legal consulting services.[8][10] In 2016, Littler and another law firm represented the National Association of Manufacturers and other plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the Department of Labor, resulting in the persuader rule being blocked by injunction.[33][34]

The WPI unsuccessfully advocated against California Assembly Bill 5 in 2019, which reclassified many independent contractors as employees.[10] In 2021, the WPI criticized the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would require employers to pay damages to employees when they fire them in violation of labor laws, for being more "punitive" than the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.[35] After Rhode Island banned captive audience meetings in 2025 by prohibiting employers from retaliating against employees who decline to attend them, Littler claimed that the ban was "likely unconstitutional" and suggested its "more risk tolerant" clients could continue to hold captive audience meetings in contravention of state law because of their "tremendous value" for union busting.[36]

Littler has advised employers against signing global framework agreements that govern employer activity during unionization, viewing the agreements as "ammunition" for labor unions that would interfere with anti-union strategies.[10]

Former employees

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See also

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Notes

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  1. 1 2 The firm previously had additional named partners, and was known as Littler, Mendelson, Fastiff, Tichy & Mathiason in 1998.[8][11]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 "About Us". Littler. Retrieved August 3, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 Sources describing Littler Mendelson as a union busting, union avoidance, or anti-union firm:
  3. 1 2 3 4 Bisom-Rapp, Susan (2004). "Exceeding Our Boundaries: Transnational Employment Law Practice and the Export of American Lawyering Styles to the Global Worksite". Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal. 25: 257–337. Archived from the original on September 14, 2025. Retrieved August 2, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 Walker, Abraham (November 25, 2024). "Third Time's the Charm: Assessing the UAW's Decade-Long Struggle for a Union at Volkswagen". New Labor Forum. 34 (1): 23–31. doi:10.1177/10957960241299337. This allowed it to make a respectable showing despite much more intense employer hostility, abetted by notorious anti-union law firm Littler Mendelson and a mandatory captive audience meeting featuring the governor as guest of honor.
  5. 1 2 3 Appleby, Gavin S. (March 2, 2007). "The Employee Free Choice Act: It's More than Just a Misleading Name". Littler Mendelson. Archived from the original on August 2, 2026. Retrieved August 2, 2026. Littler Mendelson is prepared to assist you in regard to all the above union prevention tools ... If you would like information on our state of the art union avoidance training programs ...
  6. 1 2 3 4 Logan, John (August 23, 2022). "High-Octane Organizing at Starbucks". New Labor Forum. 31 (3): 36–42. doi:10.1177/10957960221117829. Retrieved August 4, 2026. The first Starbucks campaign in Buffalo began in summer 2021 and became public in August of that year. As soon as it was public, Starbucks HQ engaged the services of Littler Mendelson—the nation's largest union avoidance law firm—and proceeded to launch its fight against the union. [...] As a result of the company's delaying tactics, the workers did not get to vote in NLRB elections until December 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Mareschal, Patrice M.; Kearney, Richard C. (September 15, 2025). "Public Employee Unions in the Future". Labor Relations in the Public Sector. Taylor & Francis. doi:10.4324/9781003403593-11. ISBN 978-1-040-40262-7. Retrieved August 4, 2026 – via Google Books. As of 2022, Starbucks had retained had [sic] at least 110 attorneys from the largest union avoidance firm in the U.S., Littler Mendelson. Under Littler Mendelson's guidance Starbucks deployed an array of tactics including holding multiple captive audience meetings, spamming employees with anti-union text messages, hiring new employees just ahead of union elections, and providing raises to employees at non-union stores, while denying them to employees at unionized locations
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Facundo, Jarod (October 5, 2023). "Lawyers, Not Persuaders". The American Prospect. Archived from the original on August 15, 2025. Retrieved August 13, 2025.
  9. 1 2 Silvia, Stephen J. (June 12–16, 2020). The UAW Attempts to Organize Volkswagen Chattanooga: The Sequel. 72nd Annual Meeting of the Labor and Employment Relations Association. Labor and Employment Relations Association. Retrieved August 3, 2026 – via ResearchGate.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Logan, John (2019). "The New Union Avoidance Internationalism". Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation. 13 (2). Pluto Journals: 57–77. doi:10.13169/workorgalaboglob.13.2.0057. ISSN 1745-641X. JSTOR 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.13.2.0057.
  11. ↑ Symonds, William C. (February 16, 1998). "Sex on the Job". Bloomberg News. Retrieved August 4, 2026.
  12. ↑ Eric Young (June 23, 2006). "Littler Mendelson Gets Bigger, Plans 500 Lawyers by Labor Day". San Francisco Business Times. Archived from the original on July 19, 2008. Retrieved August 18, 2007.
  13. ↑ "Ius Laboris Welcomes New Venezuelan Member Firm". Ius Laboris. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Littler Mendelson Opens in Mexico". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  15. ↑ Tom Huddleston, Jr. (October 1, 2013). "Littler Adds Firms in Columbia, Costa Rica". The American Lawyer. Archived from the original on August 21, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Littler Global Gains Ground in Central America". May 21, 2014. Archived from the original on October 3, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Littler Mendelson Joins Two Latin American Firms to Become "Littler Global"". October 2013. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  18. ↑ Rich Steeves (January 7, 2014). "Labor an Employment Firm Littler Continues Latin America Expansion". Inside Counsel. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  19. ↑ Allissa Wickham (October 21, 2014). "Littler Bolsters Latin America Presence with Peru Office". Law 360. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Who's Who Legal 100 Employment and Immigration". Who's Who Legal. Law Business Research. Archived from the original on November 29, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2026.
  21. ↑ Logan, John (December 17, 2019). "The U.S. Union Avoidance Industry Goes Global". New Labor Forum. 29 (1): 76–81. doi:10.1177/1095796019893336. Retrieved August 2, 2026. Littler attorneys have helped MNCs "formulate and implement strategies to respond to efforts by labor unions ... to discredit them through global campaigns."
  22. ↑ "Speaker Bios: Bolstering Efforts to Address Human Trafficking". United States Chamber of Commerce. July 29, 2024. Retrieved August 2, 2026.
  23. ↑ Littler attorney profiles:
  24. 1 2 Wise, Justin; Iafolla, Robert (June 28, 2023). "Littler Cashes in on Starbucks' Sprawling Anti-Union Campaign". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved August 4, 2026.
  25. ↑ Geraldo, Renata (June 21, 2023). "Starbucks Broke Labor Law at Shuttered Seattle Store, NLRB Says". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 4, 2026.
  26. ↑ Mickle, Tripp (May 29, 2022). "Apple Store Showdown: Inside the Battle for Union Representation". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 29, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2026.
  27. ↑ Harrington, Caitlin (July 28, 2022). "The Fallout from Apple's Bizarre, Dogged Union-Busting Campaign". Wired. Retrieved August 3, 2026.
  28. ↑ Gurley, Lauren Kaori (May 12, 2022). "Leaked Memo Reveals Apple's Anti-Union Talking Points for Store Managers". Vice. Archived from the original on February 6, 2026. Retrieved August 3, 2026.
  29. ↑ Koebler, Jason (May 12, 2022). "Apple Talking Points Retail". Vice Media. Retrieved August 4, 2026 – via DocumentCloud.
  30. ↑ "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. | National Labor Relations Board". www.nlrb.gov. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
  31. ↑ Nino Grasso (August 4, 2026). "Oltre mille firme non bastano: Wikimedia dice no al sindacato interno" [More than a thousand signatures are not enough: Wikimedia says not to an in-house union]. Hardware Upgrade (in Italian). Wikidata Q140915997. Archived from the original on August 5, 2026.
  32. ↑ Opfer, Chris; Penn, Ben (January 29, 2018). "Punching In: State of Labor". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved August 4, 2026.
  33. ↑ "Suit: Labor Dept.'s Union 'Persuader' Rule Threatens Attorney–Client Communication". The American Lawyer. March 31, 2016. Retrieved August 4, 2026.
  34. ↑ Levine, Marianne (June 28, 2016). "What's Next for the Persuader Rule?". Politico. Retrieved August 4, 2026.
  35. ↑ Noah, Timothy (November 1, 2021). "There's an Excellent Labor Provision (Ssshh!) in the Build Back Better Act". The New Republic. Archived from the original on April 14, 2026. Retrieved August 3, 2026.
  36. ↑ Dayen, David (September 1, 2025). "Anti-Union Law Firm Tells Clients to Go Ahead with Illegal Union-Busting Tactic". The American Prospect. Retrieved August 3, 2026.
  37. ↑ "Alan D. Cohn | Homeland Security". www.dhs.gov. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  38. ↑ "Lafsky's Last Laugh: Secret Legal Blogger Says 'I'm Opinionista!'". Observer. January 23, 2006. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  39. ↑ "Attorney Sonja Henning Gives Up Courtroom for Basketball Court". AP NEWS. Archived from the original on January 16, 2023. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  40. ↑ Ricketts, Camille (January 1, 2004). "Great Court Awareness". stanfordmag.org. Archived from the original on July 20, 2026. Retrieved July 20, 2026.
  41. ↑ "William J. Emanuel | National Labor Relations Board". www.nlrb.gov. Archived from the original on January 16, 2023. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  42. ↑ "Ryan R. Crosswell, Littler Mendelson". www.law360.com. Retrieved February 15, 2026.
  43. ↑ Myszkowski, Brian (August 27, 2025). "McClure Accuses Democratic Primary Opponent of Work with 'Union-Busting' Law Firms". LehighValleyNews.com. Archived from the original on April 26, 2026. Retrieved February 15, 2026.
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