LaborDay-08-(1-14):NWLP
8/12/08
10:03 AM
Page 13
...Big business behind group bashing unions
(From Page 12)
be exposed to intimidation at work and
at home. So contact Jeff Merkley and
ask him this one simple question:
Shouldn’t your vote still be private?”
Berman’s groups have run print and
television ads bashing unions for sev-
eral years, but only this year did they
begin to run candidate-specific ads tar-
geting states that have competitive
congressional races. The ads have run
in eight states, in each case against
Democratic congressional candidates
who support the Employee Free
Choice Act.
One ad, which aired in Maine and
Minnesota, uses actor Vince Curatola,
who played “Johnny Sack” in the
HBO series The Sopranos. Playing to
the union-Mafia stereotype, Curatola
replaces a candidate who supports “the
secret ballot for union elections” with
one who doesn’t. “Problem solved,”
says Curatola in the ad. Those ads are
run by a related group calling itself the
Coalition for a Democratic Workplace.
Berman’s groups don’t disclose
their supporters, but the Coalition for a
Democratic Workplace does — giving
a glimpse at who will be lining up to
oppose the Employee Free Choice Act
when it comes up again. The group’s
Web site lists 488 groups in support:
industry associations, state and local
chambers of commerce, and chapters
of Associated Builders & Contractors,
an open shop contractors organization.
In Oregon, besides the TV ads,
Merkley has been hounded at his cam-
paign events by a tall “Grim Reaper”
wearing the scary mask from the
movie The Scream. “Death,” accom-
panied by a man with a video camera,
carries a picket sign bearing a Merkley
campaign logo and slogans like
“Merkley kills democracy.” The en-
counters then show up on a Web site
that describes itself as the joint blog of
the Employee Freedom Action Com-
mittee and the Center for Union Facts.
They know where to find Merkley
because he’s been campaigning in a
“100 Towns for Change” tour, an-
nouncing his events in advance.
Merkley’s opponent, incumbent U.S.
Senator Gordon Smith, has not been
similarly accessible.
Publicly, Berman and his groups’
spokesperson Tim Miller have main-
tained that they are neither pro- nor
anti- union, just concerned that work-
ers’ rights be protected. But that was
contradicted by the late July discovery
of court documents that show Berman
was a key adviser to Smithfield Foods,
a North Carolina pork processor that
has waged a decade-long battle against
a union campaign by the United Food
and Commercial Workers.
An anti-union group has been dogging Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jeff
Merkley at campaign events around the state with a costumed “Grim
Reaper.”
On July 31, the independent union-
supported group American Rights at
Work posted documents on its Web
site which showed that Berman did
work for Smithfield, and was offered a
high-priced retainer through his for-
profit firm, Berman and Company.
Berman was able to get the court to
seal the documents, and threatened
American Rights at Work with legal
action if they didn’t remove them from
their site. They took the documents
off, but a section detailing what is
known about Berman and his groups
remains on the site, www.american-
rightsatwork.org.
Unions help
USS Ranger
raise funds
A non profit group seeking to pre-
serve the aircraft carrier USS Ranger
as an educational center, museum and
memorial on the Portland waterfront
is reaching out to organized labor.
The USS Ranger Museum Founda-
tion is lobbying city leaders and the
Port of Portland to allow it to pur-
chase, rent or lease one of two termi-
nals along the Willamette River to lo-
cate the massive Navy carrier. If
successful, the USS Ranger would be
the world’s largest floating museum
— and a must-see tourism destination
in the Pacific Northwest.
The Museum Foundation is hold-
ing a “Ranger Hog Raffle” to help
raise funds. The prize is a 2008
Harley-Davidson FXDB motorcycle.
To buy a ticket, call 503-799-5093
or go to winthisharley@yahoo.com.
The Foundation is governed by an
all-volunteer board of directors, made
up of former officers and crew of the
USS Ranger as well as civilians.
Kenneth Morgan, business man-
ager of Laborers Local 296, and Lynn
Lehrbach of Teamsters Joint Council
No. 37, are serving on the founda-
tion’s advisory committee.
Organized Labor fought to give us...
L a b o r D a y
...a national holiday honoring the labors of Americans.
From the Officers & Members of UA Local 290
Plumbers - Steamfitters - Marinefitters
Serving all phases of the piping industry
John Endicott — B US . M GR ./F INANCIAL S EC -T REAS .
Mike Anderson — A SST . B USINESS M ANAGER
Dan Bailey — A GENT /O RGANIZER /A SST . C OORD .
Sid Berg — A GENT /O RGANIZER
Lou Christian — A GENT
Donald Kool — O RGANIZER
Mike Mehrens — D ISPATCHER
Alan Mills — A GENT /O RGANIZER /A SST . C OORD .
Jerry Moss — A GENT
Ron Murray — A GENT
Mike O’Rourke — A GENT /O RGANIZER
Mark Stenberg — A GENT /O RGANIZER
Al Shropshire — A GENT /O RGANIZER
Herman Stonebraker — A GENT
Ron Woods — Agent/Organizer
AUGUST 15, 2008
Mike Pollock — Director of T RAINING
Marci Wichman — A SST . T RAINING C OORDINATOR
Mike Wynne — A SST . T RAINING C OORDINATOR
Chris Baier — W ELDING C OORDINATOR
Bill Hargrave — P RESIDENT
Robert Porter — V ICE P RESIDENT
Kyle Stancliff — R ECORDING S ECRETARY
Ryan McShannon — I NSIDE G UARD
E x e c u t i v e B o a r d
Gary Barnes
Dennis Mask
Marty Mehrens
Lyman Warnock
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
F i n a n c e C o m m i t t e e
Dave Hauth, Rick Hindman, Chris McNicholas
E x a m i n i n g B o a r d
Pete Bakker, Frank Boyle
Jeff Byram, Harlan Eastman
Joe Holcomb, Jeff McGillivray
James Manzella Jr., Steven Nitsch,
Mike Pollock, Barry Sather
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