New Million Dollar Ad Campaign Urges Sen. Ben Nelson to Stop the Employee Free Choice Act
Fox BusinessJuly 1, 2009
WASHINGTON, July 1, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ ----Today, the Employee Freedom Action Committee (EFAC) opened a new front in the campaign to stop the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), by releasing TV ads in Nebraska urging Democratic Senator Ben Nelson not to compromise on EFCA. The campaign is scheduled to move beyond Nebraska next week. The bill is currently pending before Congress.
This new ad campaign comes as Democratic leaders are poised to send a compromise bill to Congress. The compromise is widely expected to amend EFCA's card check and binding arbitration provisions. Regardless of the particulars of the compromise, this bill will still be a tremendous blow to workers' rights.
"The ad campaign is designed to urge Nebraskans to tell Bill Nelson to oppose closing debate on the Employee 'Forced' Choice Act," said Rick Berman, Executive Director of EFAC. "This bill will take control out of the hands of employees in the workplace and allow outside parties to have tremendous control over private businesses through binding arbitration."
The television ads are scheduled to begin airing tomorrow across the state. The text of both ads is below:
Ad: 1 in 20
VO: Only five percent of Nebraska's business workforce is unionized. Why are 95 percent of us union free? Because we know better. Most people know that unionization means a loss of personal control.
Lady 1: Hundreds in union dues.
Lady 2: The possibility of strikes.
Man: And a less competitive company.
Call Senator Ben Nelson today and tell him to protect your personal rights on the job and stop passage on the Employee Forced Choice Act.
Ad: Negotiation
Joe: Well, I know we've talked about the review, and I think I deserve a five percent raise.
Boss: Joe, I agree.
Union Guy: Whoa, whoa, whoa! That's not what he wants. What he wants is a two percent raise, plus funeral benefits, guaranteed smoke breaks, and triple overtime for Superbowl Sunday.
Joe (flabbergasted): Funeral benefits?! I don't care about that stuff. I want a five percent raise.
Union Guy to Boss: If we don't get this stuff, our member Joe here is just going to have to go out on strike.
Boss: Strike?!
VO: Union bosses want federal bureaucrats to take away your personal rights. Call Senator Nelson and tell him there's no compromise on the Employee Forced Choice Act.
Richard Berman has been a regular front man for business and industry in campaigns against consumer safety and environmental groups. Through his public affairs firm, Berman and Company, Berman has fought unions, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, PETA and other watchdog groups in their efforts to raise awareness about obesity, the minimum wage, the dangers of smoking, mad cow disease, drunk driving, and other causes. Berman runs at least 15 industry-funded front groups and projects, such as the Center for Union Facts and holds 16 "positions" in those organizations.
Each year, Berman, using his front groups to spread misinformation, spends millions of dollars distracting the public with misleading ads.
As a result of his largesse, in 2006, Richard Berman used $2,000,000 in cash to buy this $3.3 million house.
