Senate Candidates Stand Strong for Workers Despite Attack Ads

Posted by James Parks to AFL-CIO NOW

Candidates for Congress are reiterating their support for America’s workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain, despite the efforts of corporate front groups to mislead voters through attack ads.

Workers have made passage of the Employee Free Choice Act a major issue in the 2008 elections, and Big Business interests are desperately trying to derail the momentum for the bill. In state after state, deep-pocket front groups, such as the Center for Union Facts and the Employee Freedom Action Committee, are running ads that assail candidates for their support of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would ensure the freedom of workers to form unions without employer harassment.

These front groups are set up by sleaze propagandist Richard Berman, who has slammed Mothers Against Drunk Driving on behalf of the alcohol industry and encouraged pregnant women to eat tuna, despite concerns about high levels of mercury.

Jeff Merkley and Al Franken, Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate in Oregon and Minnesota, respectively, are among candidates making it clear that despite the propaganda attacks, they stand strong with America’s workers.

Merkley reiterated the importance of the Employee Free Choice Act to restoring the nation’s middle class (see video above):

“Part of the [cause for the] shrinking middle class is the ability to frustrate the opportunity for workers to form unions. Since we have a dysfunctional system [Employee Free Choice Act] is a strategy for making it functional.”

For his part, Franken’s staff responded to the ads by saying:

“For the record: Al’s sticking by his support of the Employee Free Choice Act, and [Republican Sen. Norman] Coleman’s corporate front groups only strengthen his resolve to stand up for Minnesota’s hard-working men and women when he gets to the Senate.”

In fact, WCCO, a Minnesota TV station, recently ran a “reality check” on a Berman ad that attacked Franken’s position. The reporter, Pat Kessler, says the ad’s accusation against Franken are a “distortion” and “misrepresents legislation that makes it easier for workers to organize unions.” Much of the so-called information in the ad is “false,” he says. Click here to view the video of the report.   

Across the country, union members have gathered 300,000 signatures as part of the Million-Member Mobilization for the Employee Free Choice Act. When a new president and Congress take office next year, unions will present them with 1 million signatures urging them to enact the bill, which would protect workers’ freedom to form unions and their ability to bargain for good contracts and a better life.