Anti-Union Super Bowl Ad Fumbled the Truth
by Frying Pan Staff on
If you happened to be watching the Super Bowl in Washington, D.C., Sunday, you may have caught an anti-union ad paid for by the Orwellian-named Center for Union Facts, which the Washington Post describes as “part of a web of pro-corporate organizations run by Rick Berman, who has also battled Mothers Against Drunk Driving, disputed evidence regarding mercury levels in fish and countered a perceived link between high-fructose corn syrup and obesity.”
The ad – which advocates the passage of the even more Orwellian-named Employee Rights Act – has as its centerpiece the claim that “only 10 percent of people in unions today actually voted to join the union.” The implication: Even unionized workers don’t support unions.
The problem – as pointed out by the Washington Post’s Fact Checker – is that this is “a nonsense fact.” There is no connection between support for unions and whether or not the existing workforce voted for the union.
Jared Bernstein, former chief economist to Vice President Biden, put it succinctly: “It is a bit like saying Virginia isn’t a state because none of its current residents voted for statehood.”
The Fact Checker gave the ad a rating of Three Pinocchios.
