May/June 2006

Richard Berman, a front man for anti-union interests, has made millions of dollars running corporate campaigns against unions and other social advocacy groups.

The Real Union Facts

Here are some facts about workers’ pay in 2005 that the Center for Union Facts ignores:

• The total compensation package for union workers was, on average, $10.08 per hour more than for nonunion workers.

• The average hourly wage for union workers was $4.04 per hour more than for nonunion workers.

• Union workers earned $2.09 more per hour in health insurance benefits than nonunion workers.

• The retirement and savings benefits union workers earned are worth $1.67 more per hour than those of nonunion workers.

SOURCE: U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics

Beware of the man behind the screen

Richard Berman owes a debt of gratitude to the living wage movement. He also owes gratitude to efforts to ban smoking in public places, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control – to name a few.

The Washington lobbyist and public relations man has made millions of dollars running demeaning corporate public relations campaigns against them.

Now he’s getting richer by fighting unions through his so-called Center for Union Facts (CUF).

Berman surprised trade unionists across America Feb. 13 with full-page anti-union ads in major newspapers such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. The same day he had a 15-foot dinosaur set up outside the Washington office of the AFL-CIO. He followed it up a few weeks later with an anti-union radio campaign in some cities and an anti-AFL-CIO campaign during the federation’s March executive council annual meeting.

Berman’s CUF maintains a Web site that twists facts about unions. For instance, he cites thousands of unfair labor practices (ULPs) filed against unions. However, there is no explanation that most of these ULPs are filed by anti-union corporations during organizing drives to delay elections.

The CUF puts a lot of effort in going against workers’ most successful organizing tool: card-check certification. It touts the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) secret ballot election as the most fair, democratic process, but doesn’t discuss how bosses break the law to intimidate workers during election campaigns.

Berman once boasted to the restaurant trade publication Chain Leader that he is a more aggressive attacker than other lobbyists. "We always have a knife in our teeth," he said. “Our offensive strategy is to shoot the messenger. … We’ve got to attack their credibility as spokespersons.”

The ads and Web site are part of what Berman says is a $5 million-per-year campaign to fight unions. While Berman won’t say where his money comes from, it’s clear that anti-union interests are financing the effort.

On Jan. 26 he addressed a conference of state chambers of commerce and asked them to recommend businesses in their states to donate to the CUF. In March even the U.S. Department of Labor’s public affairs office encouraged people to visit the CUF site.

“This makes us fight all the harder for workers,” said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. “UAW members know the true facts about unions – better pay, better health benefits, safer workplaces and more retirement security.”

Anti-union corporations are afraid of union organizing success through card checks and oppose the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 1696 and S. 842) in Congress that has the support of 210 representatives and 42 senators. The EFCA strengthens workers’ ability to organize unions and stiffens penalties when union-busting bosses violate workers’ rights.

In reaction the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has stepped up its efforts in support of a Republican-sponsored bill to make card checks illegal. Berman’s CUF is lobbying for the same bill.

This anti-union campaign has all the earmarks of Berman & Co.’s usual method of operation.

“His business model is to do the kind of public relations dirty work that these corporations don’t want to associate their good brand names with,” said Jeff Cronin of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

It’s the kind of dirty work that once had Berman campaigning against the Americans with Disabilities Act. He also founded the Employment Policies Institute to fight against living-wage initiatives, raises in the minimum wage and mandates for employer-provided health insurance.

In February Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a public interest group, asked the Senate Finance Committee to investigate Berman’s activities with the CUF and another of his front groups called the Center for Consumer Freedom.

“Mr. Berman’s pattern of abusing the laws that govern charitable organizations requires a thorough investigation by the Senate Finance Committee,” CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said in a Feb. 16 press release.

CREW made the original complaints against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, that led to the House Ethics Committee admonishing the congressman on two counts in 2004.

Berman’s behaving badly paying off politicians goes way back. In 1995 he and Norm Brinker, his former boss at Steak and Ale Restaurants, were identified as the special-interest lobbyists who donated $25,000 to then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was later hauled before the House Ethics Committee for influence peddling.

Not a bad outcome, but with that kind of history, Berman profiteering from anti-union interests is just another side of his shady character.

Larry Gabriel