With gas prices through the roof and the economy slumping, the issue of union elections hasn't been on the front burner for most voters.
But it's the focus of attention-grabbing TV and newspaper ads that two Washington-based business groups have rolled out to hammer DFL Senate candidate Al Franken.
The ads, placed by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and the Employee Freedom Action Committee, accuse Franken of opposing secret-ballot union elections because he supports the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation designed to make it easier for unions to organize employees in a workplace.
The bill passed the U.S. House last year with bipartisan support but got blocked by a Senate filibuster.
One of the 48 senators who voted to stall the bill was Republican Norm Coleman. He has said the legislation would strip workers of their right to decide privately whether they want to join a union.
Franken campaign spokesman Andy Barr on Friday called that a lie fueled by the "corporate interests" that are funding Coleman's campaign. Franken blasted Coleman last month for supporting the filibuster and selling out "to corporate special interests time and time again."
The Employee Freedom Action Committee ran full-page ads Thursday in the Star Tribune urging voters to "Tell Al Franken to support democracy."
Committee spokesman Tim Miller said the group has targeted Minnesota because a Coleman defeat could pave the way for the measure's success next year.
The ad charges that the Free Choice Act would subject workers to coercion by forcing them to declare publicly their support or nonsupport for a union, rather than vote secretly as is usually done now. That's undemocratic, the ads claim.
In fact, the bill wouldn't eliminate the secret-ballot election as an option.
It would give workers seeking to organize the chance to choose between such an election, should 30 percent of all workers request it, or to pursue the so-called check-card process, which certifies the union as soon as 51 percent sign up.
Miller said that, given the choice, unions would never opt for a secret ballot.
If workers must sign cards, he said, "intimidation and coercion and good old-fashioned peer pressure" would be used to persuade them to join.
On the other hand, said Brad Lehto of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, employers also can intimidate workers casting ballots.
"The bill increases penalties for violations, including coercion and unfair labor practices," he said. "Our big thing is that unions help build the middle class, and the middle class is under attack."
The Minnesota AFL-CIO, which has endorsed Franken, called on Coleman to denounce the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace's TV ad for unfairly portraying union bosses as stooges of organized crime.
In the ad, a Soprano-type character chides Coleman for opposing the Free Choice Act and applauds "my pal Al" for supporting it.
"While we are not responsible for this ad, the facts are indisputable," said Coleman campaign spokesman Luke Friedrich. "Al Franken and those who support the misleadingly-named Employee Free Choice Act support the intent of the bill to take away an individual employee's right to a secret ballot."
Kevin Duchschere • 612-673-4455
