U.S. employers spend an estimated $1.7 billion yearly on opposing unions, by hiring "union avoidance" consultants and law firms to fight back against efforts to organize.

According to a report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), employers are required to publicly disclose only a fraction of their spending on anti-union campaigns, meaning the true total could be significantly higher than current estimates. The EPI also found that companies routinely deploy mandatory anti-union meetings, targeted messaging campaigns and outside legal advisers as part of broader efforts to discourage workers from supporting union drives.

In 2025 alone, Amazon spent 13 times more money on union avoidance services than the next biggest spender, for a total of more than $26.6 million. UnityPoint was a distant second at $2.1 million, followed by LabCorp at $2 million and Premier Health at $801,000. Amazon's history of pushing back against organized labor has also been well-documented over the years, with the company having faced multiple allegations of illegal union busting at its warehouses across the U.S.

The report also detailed how anti-union law firms have built lucrative business models around delaying union elections, challenging bargaining units and dragging out first-contract negotiations in ways that can frustrate workers and weaken organizing campaigns. As the EPI notes, employers and their legal teams often exploit procedural delays and appeals within the National Labor Relations Board process to prolong organizing battles for months, or even years, making it significantly harder for newly-formed unions to maintain momentum.

In a statement to The Guardian, an Amazon spokesperson said that "it's important that our teammates and partners understand the truth."

"We've continued to work with experts in the field who are able to share objective facts about what it actually means to have an external party take their voice," they added.