When the Seattle City Council passed an unprecedented law allowing ride-share drivers in Seattle to unionize last year, everyone knew a lawsuit was coming. But it's unlikely the politicians and labor leaders involved in the law expected this: an Uber-funded investigation of local union politics by a CIA-linked intelligence company.

The Verge reported today that soon after Seattle's unionization law passed, Uber worked with the firm Ergo—a firm "staffed by veterans from the CIA and the National Security Council"—to look into "Seattle's political stakeholders and the dynamics of labor unions in the city."

In an email obtained by The Verge, Ergo reached out to a labor historian named Trevor Griffey, seeking insight into "the recent developments in labor unionization in Seattle" and offering to pay for consultation work on the topic. The email was sent in mid-January, roughly a month after the collective bargaining ordinance was passed.

In the email, the sender identifies himself as an Ergo representative, but says his work is on behalf of a private, anonymous client and that the resulting study will not be released to the public. According to the message, the study would deal with "Seattle's political stakeholders and the dynamics of labor unions in the city." The final report was due to be submitted "relatively soon." Ergo did not respond to requests for comment.

Uber confirmed the project to The Verge, but said it wasn't targeted at any individual drivers. In the past, some individual drivers claim they have been targeted by Uber and the company's competitor Lyft after expressing interest in unionizing. After the law passed, Uber called drivers to discourage them from unionizing.

It's not the first time Uber has done business with Ergo. The ride-share company previously hired Ergo to help dig up information about the lawyer who sued Uber for allegedly violating anti-trust laws, according to a previous investigation by The Verge. A federal judge ruled this week that Uber can't use the information it got from Ergo in that case and called the whole thing "intrusive and clandestine," Reuters reports.

More here on Uber's work with Ergo in Seattle.