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Get the Facts on Unionfacts.com
For more information call the AFL-CIO at 202-637-5018
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Unionfacts.com is a project of the Chamber of Commerce, according to an
anonymous source which claims that, in a meeting of the State Chambers
of Commerce National Conference held on Sanibel Island in Florida on January
26, the State Chambers announced they were spending $8 million a year ($2
million a quarter) to launch this anti-union campaign.
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It's clear that corporations are pooling resources to fight back against
workers' efforts to roll back corporate power. It's no accident that the
Chamber and its members are launching a major initiative as the AFL-CIO
and its unions are launching Fair Share health care in 30 states, helping
record numbers of workers win unions outside the flawed NLRB process (like
at Cingular), and taking on giant corporations, like WalMart.
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Unionfacts.com is a project of The Center for Union Facts which is run
by Richard Berman of Berman and Company. Here are examples of the types
of campaigns they run:
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Attacking MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) on behalf of the alcohol
industry. (consumerdeception.com)
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Representing the tobacco lobby against the CDC (Centers for Disease Control.)
(consumerdeception.com)
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Berman has been accused of falsely attributing to the EPA a minimization
of the risk of ALAR, a pesticide used on apples that is especially harmful
to children and which has since been banned, when, in fact, the information
he used was from the company he represented that made ALAR. (Sourcewatch.org)
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In the early 1990s, Berman made a $93,000 donation to Kennesaw State College
for former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's class on the condition
that Gingrich teach ideas supported by the right-wing Employment Policies
Institute. House Ethics Committee reports revealed that Berman's contribution
was solicited by GOPAC, Gingrich's PAC. (Sourcewatch.org)
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Other organizations reportedly attacked by Berman and his organizations
include: Action on Smoking and Health; American Medical Association; Center
for Food Safety; EarthSave International; Environmental Working Group;
Friends of the Earth; Harvard School of Public Health; National Association
of High School Principals; and the Surgeon General. (consumerdeception.com)
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Berman has a long history with the Chamber of Commerce; in the 1970s, he
was their labor law director.
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Berman's "Guest Choice Network" (according to the Center for Media and
Democracy):
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Described Mothers Against Drunk Driving as a group of "professional
fund-raisers" who try to "scare us away from even responsible drinking."
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Characterized former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's proposal to confiscate
the vehicles of people convicted for drunk driving as a "car-theft ring."
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Criticized the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
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its warnings about salmonella-related food poisoning "For nearly three
decades, [CDC] has been whipping up fear over food while remaining virtually
unchallenged by the press or the scientific community. By generating more
heat than light, [CDC] helps create fear . . . over . . . food products."
"[There is a] lack of evidence that second-hand smoke causes cancer."
—Rick Berman http://www.consumerfreedom.com/oped_detail.cfm?oped=123
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