Scott Sassone

Topix.com

6/6/2008

(NEWS CENTER) — An organization called The Center For Union Facts has launched a nationwide television ad campaign attacking labor unions and supporting workers rights. Those ads recently ran on stations here in Maine, including NEWS CENTER.
The ads depict workers talking about how unions take away their rights and bully people into joining unions.

J. Justin Wilson spoke to NEWS CENTER from his Washington D.C. office on Thursday.

“We think people should be able to have a free and clear choice as to whether to join a union,” Wilson told NEWS CENTER. “If they want to quit the union they should be able to do that.”

The center’s Managing Director, Wilson says the campaign is aimed at the “Employee Free Choice Act.” Wilson says if Congress enacts the bill, it will strip workers of their right to a private vote when forming a union.

“In organizing elections, people go and have a vote, just like election day in Maine,” Wilson explained. “They want to switch to a system where a union organizer approaches you at your house and say sign this contract and they don’t even show you the fine print.”

The Center For Union Rights is a Washington D.C. Based 501-c3 non-profit organization.

While the Center is warning people of deception and corruption on the part of unions, local labor leaders are fighting back.

President of the Eastern Maine Labor Council, Jack McKay, says the Center is nothing but a front organization for lobbyists who are pro-big business and anti-union interests. McKay says the organization is run by Richard Berman, a notorious lobbyist for the alcohol, tobacco, and fast food industries.

“What the ads play on is a sense that, ‘I’m not gonna win, I should keep my head down and I can’t make a difference, because somebody out there is going to beat me down,’” McKay said. “That’s exactly the problem unions see.”

McKay says Maine has been targeted because of the expected Senate race between Representative Tom Allen (D-Maine) and Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine).

They are on opposite sides of “The Employee Free Choice Act.”

Mckay says the legislation would ensure workers’ right to form a union and give them the power to bargain with their employers.

Senator Collins is against the legislation; , Collins’ Deputy Campaign Manager Felicia Knight issued a written statement addressing the ads.

“Senator Collins’ campaign has nothing to do with these ads, which are currently airing in several media markets around the country. On the issue, Senator Collins strongly believes that all workers are entitled to their long-standing right to a secret ballot. It is ironic that a public servant, elected by a secret ballot, would vote to deny union employees the same right.”

Representative Allen’s Communications Director Carol Andrews also addressed the advertising campaign: “It certainly would not be surprising that groups who are anti-worker and anti-middle class would want to diminish Tom Allen’s support of working people and would favor his opponent, who voted against the Employee Free Choice Act.

“Tom Allen is a proud supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act and our labor unions because he understands that our middle class is seeing an erosion of health insurance coverage, pension benefits and job security. Unions help level the playing field in these areas because they negotiate through collective bargaining.”