We’re never surprised to hear union leaders and their allies spout off bogus statistics and half truths to justify their special interest agenda, but we were a little surprised to see The New York Times editorial board buy into so many union myths in their recent editorial supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. Here is a play-by-play of the Times most disturbing deceptions:

…The House of Representatives passed a bill last week that would strengthen the rights of employees to form unions…

Not quite. The EFCA would do just the opposite by eliminating workers’ guaranteed right to a private ballot election.

…In 2005, according to the most recent annual report of the National Labor Relations Board, 31,358 employees were receiving back pay after being discriminated against for their union-related activities. In research for a bipartisan Congressional commission in 2000, Kate Bronfenbrenner, a labor relations professor at Cornell University, reported that 25 percent of employers illegally fired at least one employee during organizing campaigns…

This is a popular, albeit deceptive talking point used by union mouthpieces. The number of employees paid back-pay has little to do with organizational campaigns. In fact, our recent analysis of NLRB data found that an employee was wrongly fired in only two percent of NLRB-sanctioned election drives. In 2005 that translated to just 62 elections of the thousands conducted.

As for Prof. Bronfenbrenner’s study, The New York Times failed to note that she only interviewed union organizers–hardly an unbiased source. Nor did they note that she is a former union organizer. (pdf)