Claim: Only five percent of Nebraska's business workforce is unionized. Why are 95 percent of us union free? Because we know better. Most people know that unionization means a loss of personal control.

More than Half Of All U.S. Workers Would Join a Union if They Could. According to a Peter Hart poll in December 2006, more than half of all U.S. workers--nearly 60 million--say they would join a union if they could. A 2007 study by Richard Freeman found that "if workers were provided the union representation they desired in 2005, then the overall unionization rate would have been about 58%." [Peter D. Hart poll, December 2006; Economic Policy Institute Briefing Paper #182, 2/22/07]

Employee Free Choice Act Gives Workers a Free & Fair Choice: According to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the Employee Free Choice Act would give workers a free and fair choice to join a union. The bill would reform the labor-relations system to restore workers' basic democratic right to make a free choice to join a union and ensure fairness in the union selection process. [Center for American Progress Action Fund, "Unions Are Good for Workers and the Economy," 2/18/09]

Claim: "...Hundreds in union dues."

Union Workers Earn More & Have Better Benefits than Non-Union Workers. According to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, union workers earn significantly more on average than their non-union counterparts, are nearly 54 percent more likely to have employer-provided pensions, and are 28 percent more likely to be covered by employer-provided health insurance. In 2007, union workers earned 30 percent more on average than non-union workers. [Center for American Progress Action Fund, "Unions Are Good for Workers and the Economy," 2/18/0); Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1/25/08]

Claim: "...The possibility of strikes."

Work Stoppages Are Rare & Have Declined in Recent Years. According to data from the Bureau for Labor Statistics, the number of major work stoppages have continued to dramatically decline, with only 15 stoppages in 2008, compared to 34 in 1998, 40 in 1988, and 219 in 1978. [BLS, "Major Work Stoppages in 2008," 2/11/09, Table 1]

Claim: "...And a less competitive company."

Exhaustive Analysis Found No Link Between Unionization Rates & Unemployment. In 2006, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) did an exhaustive analysis of the research on this topic and concluded that there was no link between unionization rates and unemployment. [Dean Baker, Op-Ed, Talking Points Memo, 3/13/09]

Forming A Union Does Not Cause Businesses To Fail. A study released by the Economic Policy Institute found that there is no causal connection between workers forming a union and their employer subsequently failing. [EPI Briefing Paper #230, 3/20/09]

States with Higher Unionization Rates Actually Have Lower Business Failure Rates: A 2005 report by Aparna Mathur, Ph.D of the University of Maryland on behalf of the Small Business Administration found that states with higher unionization rates had a significantly lower probability of small business failures. [A Spatial Model of the Impact of State Bankruptcy Exemptions on Entrepreneurship, SBA Report, 7/05]

Study that Claims Employee Free Choice Act Will Lead to Job Losses is "Crackpot Economics." According to Larry Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute, the Layne-Farrar study is "crackpot economics." Mishel noted that by using the study's logic, the United States would have "negative unemployment" given that union membership has decreased over the past 30 years. Instead, U.S. unemployment has reached a 26-year high of 8.1 percent. [Daily Labor Report, 3/9/09;]

Putting More Wages Into Workers' Pockets Will Provide a Needed Boost for the Economy. According to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, unionization is good for the economy overall and "putting more money in workers' pockets would provide a needed boost for the U.S. economy." [Center for American Progress Action Fund, 2/18/09]

Employee Free Choice Act Could Pump $49 Billion Into the U.S. Economy. A February 2009 report by the Center for American Progress Action Fund found that with a modest increase in unionization, new union workers would earn an estimated $49 billion more in wages and salaries per year." [Center for American Progress Action Fund, 2/18/09]

Claim: "...protect your personal rights on the job...forced choice."

Management Coercion Is the Problem, Not Union Coercion. During NLRB elections, 46 percent of workers complained of pressure from management. In contrast, during majority sign-up campaigns, only 4.6 percent of workers who signed a card with a union organizer reported that the presence of the organizer made them feel pressured to sign the card. [Adrienne Eaton, Ph.D. of Rutgers University, and Jill Kriesky of Wheeling Jesuit University, Fact Over Fiction: Opposition to Card Check Doesn't Add Up, 9/06]

Intimidation & Coercion by Employers Is Rampant in Organizing Efforts: During organizing drives, 30 percent of employers illegally fire pro-union workers, 82 percent hire unionbusting consultants, and 91 percent force employees to attend one-on-one anti-union meetings with their supervisors. [Chirag Mehta and Nik Theodore, Undermining the Right to Organize: Employer Behavior During Union Representation Campaigns, Center for Urban Economic Development, University of Illinois at Chicago, 12/05]

Claim: unionized workers don't have a say in negotiations

Union Workers Earn More & Have Better Benefits than Non-Union Workers. According to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, union workers earn significantly more on average than their non-union counterparts, are nearly 54 percent more likely to have employer-provided pensions, and are 28 percent more likely to be covered by employer-provided health insurance. In 2007, union workers earned 30 percent more on average than non-union workers. [Center for American Progress Action Fund, "Unions Are Good for Workers and the Economy," 2/18/0); Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1/25/08]

More than Half Of All U.S. Workers Would Join a Union if They Could. According to a Peter Hart poll in December 2006, more than half of all U.S. workers--nearly 60 million--say they would join a union if they could. A 2007 study by Richard Freeman found that "if workers were provided the union representation they desired in 2005, then the overall unionization rate would have been about 58%." [Peter D. Hart poll, December 2006; Economic Policy Institute Briefing Paper #182, 2/22/07]

Employee Free Choice Act Gives Workers a Free & Fair Choice: According to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the Employee Free Choice Act would give workers a free and fair choice to join a union. The bill would reform the labor-relations system to restore workers' basic democratic right to make a free choice to join a union and ensure fairness in the union selection process. [Center for American Progress Action Fund, "Unions Are Good for Workers and the Economy," 2/18/09]

Claim: the possibility of strikes

Work Stoppages Are Rare & Have Declined in Recent Years. According to data from the Bureau for Labor Statistics, the number of major work stoppages have continued to dramatically decline, with only 15 stoppages in 2008, compared to 34 in 1998, 40 in 1988, and 219 in 1978. [BLS, "Major Work Stoppages in 2008," 2/11/09, Table 1]

Claim: "Union bosses want federal bureaucrats to take away your personal rights."

Employee Free Choice Act Includes Arbitration, Which Works to Encourage Voluntary Settlement of Contract Negotiations. Experience in the public sector shows that only a small minority, in most cases well under 10 percent, of negotiations end up requiring an arbitration decision. In half of the states and the District of Columbia, public sector employees have the right to resolve collective bargaining conflicts through arbitration, and yet the vast majority of these contracts are still settled voluntarily rather than through arbitration. [American Rights at Work, "Low Rates of Arbitration Use in the Public Sector," 2009]