Chamber-hired Law Firm Targeting Labor Group and Chamber Critic, SEIU

Last month with the flood of “Chamberleaks” emails, we saw just how dirty protectors of the Chamber image are willing to play: spying on family members of Chamber critics, planting false documents, creating fake personas. Last week brought news of the latest wave of slander and cyber stalking, this time aimed at Chamber-critics, Service Employees Union International (SEIU.) Hunton and Williams, the law firm ensnared in the Chamber “dirty tricks” campaign that sought to sabotage critics of the Chamber, is now working for  Sodexo Inc., the commercial food services conglomerate long criticized for its unjust labor practices.

The US Chamber and Sodexo are both clients of Hunton and Williams, and both are united in their drive to undermine fair labor practices and small business interests.

 
Ironically, with Hunton and Wiliams at the helm, Sodexo is accusing the labor group of blackmail, harassment, and other egregious acts; these accusations sound an awful lot like the charges that Hunton and Williams is being investigated for. Here’s a refresher on all those charges: “domestic spying, fraud, forgery, extortion, cyber stalking, defamation, harassment, destruction of property, spear phishing… identity theft, computer scraping, cyber attacks, interference withbusiness, civil rights violations, harassment, and theft…”

Coincidence? Doubtful. SEIU was also a target group for the law firm’s “dirty tricks” operation to sabotage critics of the Chamber. While hatching this smear campaign, Hunton and Williams were also keeping a close eye on the SEIU website- clocking 20 hours of close surveillance, and presumably trying to dig up random facts to use to discredit SEIU.While it was an audacious move, it’s not surprising that Sodexo has chosen to rail charges against SEIU using the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)- in 2009, Hunton and Williams attorney Greg Robertson published a report on how to use RICO to combat pesky union opposition.

It’s also no surprise that the company came to Hunton and Williams for help; Tom Mackall, the executive of Sodexo was formerly a top partner at the law firm.

It doesn’t take a nuclear physicist to connect the dots; the Chamber and its associates are feeling the heat and digging themselves even deeper trying to clean up their reputation. Yesterday, it was revealed that the Chamber is dangling a six figure contract to any PR firm who can improve their public image.

The Chamber’s efforts to discredit labor and watchdog groups are thinly veiled attempts to knock off their main critics. Unfortunately for the US Chamber and other corporate interest groups, the truth is on our side. That’s not something a bunch of cyber-spies or lavish PR efforts can fix.

 

Posted on Monday, March 21st, 2011 at 5:46 pm.