WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Center for Union Facts is running a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal calling attention to the rise of the “worker center”—community organizations and non-profits that are organized labor’s latest scheme to unionize workers without having to comply with federal labor laws.
The ad also follows on the heels of a front-page expose in the Journal detailing the growing number of worker centers and their increasingly cozy relationships with the labor movement.
“The number of labor-backed ‘worker centers’ has grown exponentially in the past two decades, climbing from 5 or fewer in the early 1990s to well over 200 today,” said Richard Berman, executive director at the Center for Union Facts. “In fact, the exact number of such organizations is impossible to document, precisely because these front groups are exempt from the federal labor laws that are designed to keep labor unions fair and labor leaders honest.”
The ad features two photographs of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, and asks “Can You Tell The Difference?” The first photograph of Trumka is captioned, “Labor Union Big Shot”; the second is the same photograph except with Trumka wearing a cheap disguise, with the caption, “Worker Center Big Shot”. The ad explains: “Big labor unions are trying to disguise themselves as ‘worker centers’ to push their organizing and political agendas. These unions are exploiting a technical loophole in the law to exempt themselves from federal regulation. But if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…”
The ad concludes by prompting readers to visit www.WorkerCenters.com, a new website by the Center for Union Facts that is being launched in conjunction with the ad’s release.
“Labor unions have been losing members at a staggering pace over the last 60 years, with private sector union membership now at a mere 6.6 percent,” concluded Berman. “Given this precipitous decline, it’s not surprising that labor unions are turning to schemes like ‘worker centers’ to further their agenda.”
