Right-wing opponents of healthcare and climate change reform continue to engage in Astroturfing (aka fake grassroots activism). To put it simply, these groups are like wolves in sheep's' clothing. They do their best to appear, act and smell like community groups...except they're not.

They're corporate front groups funded primarily, if not entirely, by corporate interests, political interests and/or PR firms who stand to either gain or lose a great deal of money and market share based on the legislation in question. Astroturf activism by right-wing front groups is particularly egregious because it masks the true motivations of the powerful interests with the most dollar signs at stake in these debates. Our friends over at Media Matters are looking to put a stop to this.

They have a new database that tracks the financial and political ties of conservative think tanks, nonprofit activist groups, and foundations for the public to see: ConservativeTransparency.org. The new database compiled and organized nearly 1,000 Internal Revenue Service filings to be provide the public-at-large with information on hundreds of "AstroTurf" organizations such as...

• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce - leads the way in opposition against federal reforms of....pretty much any kind that help working people. The Chamber is lobbying against consumer protections, limits on bank bonuses, financial reform legislation, legislation to lessen global warming and reform to healthcare and labor law.
• FreedomWorks Inc. - one of the *star* organizations behind the efforts to disrupt town hall meetings.
• The Heritage Foundation - a think tank that promotes ultra conservative policies and has repeated lobbied against increases in the minimum wage as well as health insurance reform.
• Conservatives for Patients' Rights - A $20 million operation that's running a national campaign against a public plan to kill progressive health care reform.
• Americans for Prosperity Foundation - helped organize tea party protests, opposes health care reform behind Patients United Now. Also sponsor of the Joe the Plumber tour and world-class climate change deniers.

See ConservativeTransparency.org for a wealth of information on the money behind the movement.

Editors and fact checkers at several major news outlets were having a seriously bad case of "the Mondays" yesterday, as The Washington Post, CNBC, NY Times, Fox News and other major newspapers were duped by a Chamber of Commerce hoax perpetrated by the Yes Men at the National Press Club. An email with a fake press release was picked up by several outlets who wanted to be first on the scene to report the Chamber's position reversal on climate change.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce suffered the latest in a string of PR embarrassments yesterday. The AM news cycle kicked off with Senior White House advisor Valerie Jarrett calling the Chamber's positions "old school" and their $100 million campaign for free enterprise "wasteful" in a harsh interview to Huffington Post. The Chamber claims that this campaign is a way to create jobs, but their underlying motives for the initiative (mainly to defeat regulatory reform) are being questioned by the White House and other powerful corporations more and more.

Hours later,  the Chamber got "punked" by the Yes Men, whose fake news conference in which the "Chamber" supposedly changed their position in favor of climate change legislation, also got covered by major news outlets. The events that unfolded at the faux press conference were hilarious. High profile corporate prankster Andy Bichlbaum (half of The Yes Men duo), who was posing as a 'special assistant' to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce president Thomas J. Donohue. Reporters were engaged in a serious Q&A with U.S. Chamber "representative" when Chamber rep Eric Wohlschlegel stormed into the Press Club, yelling that the press conference is a hoax and demanding to see everyone's business cards. Because how else can you legitimize anyone as a credible source in Washington, DC without the exchange of business cards, right?

The real Chamber rep and the fake Chamber rep then proceed to have a ridiculous stand-off, with escalating demands from Wohlschlegel to see Bichlbaum's business card and accusations of fraud coming from both sides. The confrontation ended with Wohlschlegel dispensing his business card to various reporters in the room, and doing his best to evade pointed questions about the Chamber's real stance on climate legislation currently in Congress, which the (real) Chamber opposes. As the finale, the Chamber rep grabbed the woman managing the sign-in sheet and demanded she turn it over.

This description doesn't do this event justice though, so please watch the video--as my coworker says, it truly is "comedy gold." And here's Rachel Maddow's interview with Mother Jones reporter Kate Sheppard, who was present at the yesterday's press conference stunt:

The Chamber's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days seem to be increasing in recent weeks. First there's the fallout from groups like Nike and Apple over their climate change policies and opposition to curbing greenhouse gases. Then they announce their sham of a plan to create 20 million jobs by relying on the same failed economic practices of the past that put big corporate interests ahead of ordinary Americans. MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan grills Tom Donohue shortly after, calling him out on his "nonsense."

Until the Chamber of Commerce changes their extreme views on issues like climate change, health care reform, financial regulations, and labor law reform, we foresee many more terrible, horrible, no good very bad days in their future.

L ast night MSNBC's Rachel Maddow took on the radical right-wingers seeking to silence working families by attacking progressive community organizations. As part of that segment, she discussed with Peter Dreier, professor of politics at Occidental College in Los Angeles, why they're trying to target the SEIU next.

Watch the clip here:

You can watch the entire segment right here.

On the on the heels of recent news that reports a bill version of the Employee Free Choice Act in the Senate may not include majority sign-up provisions, we thought we'd revisit why we need this provision included in legislation to restore giving workers the actual choice of whether they want union representation.

Majority signup is based on a simple idea: if a majority of workers say they want a union, they should get a union. And the public agrees: three-quarters (75%) of adults favor allowing workers to have a union once a majority of the employees in a workplace sign authorization cards indicating that they want to form a union, including 44% who strongly support the idea. [Hart Research Associates, 1/8/09 ]

One of the most common scare tactics corporate special interests continue to use to try and stop the Employee Free Choice Act is the charge that majority signup is baaaaad for workers because it makes them feel pressured or coerced into signing cards. To those opponents we say: check your facts. Academic studies show that workers who organize under majority sign-up feel less pressure from co-workers to support the union than workers who organize under the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election process.

During NLRB elections, 46 percent of workers complained of pressure from management. In contrast, during majority signup 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]

So, where's the controversy? "As negotiations on the Employee Free Choice Act continue in Congress, members need only look at public opinion to realize the only controversy over majority signup is being fabricated by a vocal, well financed, factually-challenged minority led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and corporate powerhouses like Wal-Mart," said Tom McMahon, Executive Director of Americans United for Change in a statement today.

There's no debate among working people in this country that the system is badly broken for the 60 million workers who would form a union tomorrow if they could. The current labor system is no longer effectively protecting and enforcing workers' rights in the election process. It has become a system that allows big business and corporate special interests to routinely harass, intimidate and even fire workers who try to form a union and bargain for better pay and benefits and a voice on the job. "These Corporate special interests will continue to say or do anything to keep the system broken, but when three-quarters of the American people agree majority signup is central to labor reform and building a strong economic foundation for our disappearing middle-class, Congress really doesn't have to listen," says McMahon. We couldn't agree more.

Majority signup is a democratic, proven approach that allows workers to have a fair, direct path to join unions--and it's important that both the House and Senate consider this common-sense idea to level the playing field against corporate greed.

Please add your name to the petition to Congress in support of majority signup and the Employee Free Choice Act.

Yesterday SEIU launched an online campaign asking senators to stand with working people, not greedy CEOs, on the Employee Free Choice Act.  The Huffington Post wrote of our campaign:

One of the nation's largest unions is making a significant ad purchase targeting four Democrats and one Republican Senator on the Employee Free Choice Act.

Targeting Democratic Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Jim Webb of Virginia, and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, as well as Republican David Vitter of Louisiana, the message is at once effective and sharp: To oppose the labor-backed legislation would be to side with the institutions that create the current economic malaise.

In addition to putting out the four web videos, the SEIU is also launching email campaigns targeting the five senators, with much the same message and aim.
The email campaign mirrored the below message sent to our Arkansas activists; you can see all the ads below.

Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, stand with Arkansas' working people, not greedy CEOs

Arkansas

Louisiana

Pennsylvania

Virginia

From the moment they flew people to Washington, DC to lobby against the Employee Free Choice Act, things were just not going the Chamber of Commerce's way...

From bringing a major labor law violator to lobby on behalf of (wait for it...) labor law reform, to getting caught in a lie by Sen. Feinstein, this can't be how the Chamber wanted their lobbying week to go.

TERRIBLE: As one of their main lobbyists on labor law reform, the Chamber of Commerce brings to Washington... a major labor law violator.

One of the Arkansas business leaders that the Chamber flew in was Michael Keck of St. Vincent Health System, where multiple unfair labor practices have been filed against management. (As an executive, Michael is "management.") It took St. Vincent nurses more than 3 years to get a union contract, during which time the National Labor Relations Board had to step in at least twice.  Read the full TPM piece here.

HORRIBLE: The Chamber claims that Sen. Dianne Feinstein no longer supports Employee Free Choice, and is promptly smacked down...by Sen. Feinstein. After a local California Chamber group met with Sen. Feinstein, they put out the word that she was changing her position; she did not support the bill. The only problem? It was flatly untrue. In response, Sen. Feinstein issued this clarifying statement:

"A statement has been put out mischaracterizing my position on this bill. The truth is that I am working to find common ground between the needs of both business and labor in order to reach a bipartisan solution. I believe we must find a way to protect the privacy of individual workers so that they may elect whether to form a union free of intimidation."

The same day, Sen. Johnson came out in favor of Employee Free Choice.

According to Wednesday's Argus Leader, Sen. Tim Johnson told a delegation of South Dakota business leaders Wednesday that he would vote to bring a controversial labor bill to the Senate floor for debate. "His decision to vote to consider the Employee Free Choice Act is a blow to local and national business groups, which have lobbied strenuously against the measure," wrote the Leader. It's "very significant," acknowledges the state Chamber president.

NO GOOD:  According to a Maine small business owner: The US Chamber of Commerce doesn't speak for small businesses any more than Burger King speaks for cows.  In response to a statement by the US Chamber of Commerce that Small Business owners oppose the Employee Free Choice Act, Mainer Ben Wootten said: "The US Chamber of Commerce doesn't speak for small businesses any more than Burger King speaks for cows. While the Chamber works overtime to represent the narrow interests of bloated, wealthy corporations, our nation's small businesses are struggling simply to keep their doors open.  We need common-sense measures like health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act to help small business owners control costs and ensure that their employees feel truly invested in the long-term future of their workplace."

VERY BAD: Backed into a corner, they're now making misleading claims about the Employee Free Choice Act in a new ad. Many people saw the misleading and hypocritical ad the Chamber of Commerce placed in Roll Call and Politico yesterday. The fact is that -- when it suits them -- companies use binding arbitration all the time. In March of this year, the Chamber called Consumer Arbitration, "Fair, Inexpensive, and Unbiased."  But when it comes to creating a contract that works for workers, companies often refuse to negotiate a first agreement, or use stall tactics and gimmicks to delay the process for years.  Sixty-two percent of workers who form a union lack an agreement one year later and companies refuse to even negotiate in good faith in over 28% of cases.

Corporate interests have been using every means at their disposal to lobby against Employee Free Choice, the legislation that would make it easier for workers to join a union. However, labor's show of support for this legislation and stepped-up efforts to debunk the corporate lies have not gone unnoticed by the mainstream media--from Washington-insider publications like Politico, to national publications CNN and BusinessWeek.

Yesterday, hundreds of workers from across the country rallied at the offices of major corporate industry associations to expose the huge scope of their DC lobbying against measures that could help working people in today's economy. We've compiled a short round-up of the media coverage surrounding SEIU's demonstrations - here are a few highlights:

CNN: Key union renews push for hotly disputed labor bill
One of the the country's most powerful unions stepped up its campaign for a hotly disputed labor bill Monday, holding a rally on the eve of the bill's formal introduction in Congress. SEIU's President Andy Stern:

[Business leaders] "believe in this old market-worshipping, privatizing, deregulating, trickle-down [policy] that took the greatest economy on the Earth and sent it staggering forward because of their greed and their selfishness. Without the Employee Free Choice Act ... the rich will get richer and the rest of us will fend for ourselves."

Huffington Post: SEIU, Chamber Of Commerce Dust Up Started With A Tweet
As some of you may know, SEIU President Andy Stern is on Twitter every day on his own, often breaking news. Here, Sam Stein has the story of how one of Stern's tweets about Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donahue escalated into a demonstration outside the offices of the Chamber yesterday.

It was a small and rather innocuous volley, but an interesting footnote in one of the year's most fiercely pitched legislative debates...During the subsequent week, the SEIU sent letters to seven industry groups opposed to EFCA asking them to engage workers in a conversation on the bill. The gathering of labor leaders and progressive religious and community officials, protesting the business group's lobbying efforts against labor priorities, marked a crest in an exchange that has been simmering for weeks. Certainly it is one of the more overt moves in a political chess match that has been waged largely behind the scenes.

Business Week: Bill Moves Forward As Lobbying Battle Heats Up
The bill's reintroduction coincides with an intensifying lobbying blitz over card check organized by the business and labor organizations that are battling over the bill....the Service Employees International Union has organized a competing "fly-in" with the AFL-CIO and other unions; they will also flood Capitol Hill with roughly 300 workers who will tell members about how they've been stymied in efforts to win the union representation they believe they need to improve wages and health care benefits.

As now written, the bill would eliminate an employer's ability to require a secret ballot if employees attempt to gain union representation. Instead, a union could be certified if 50% of those working at a particular site sign cards asking for a union. Andy Stern, the head of the SEIU, says the simpler procedure is needed to keep companies from intimidating workers who try to unionize.

Politico: Unions protest Chamber of Commerce
You've probably seen the ads and heard the rhetoric on the House and Senate floor, but now the protests over the Employee Free Choice Act are under way. A spokeswoman for the Service Employees International Union says the organization has dispatched 300 labor union members to protest outside the offices of the Chamber of Commerce, a leading business group that has been leading the fight against the bill, which opponents call the card check legislation.

"It's startling how huge a lobbying machine corporations have deployed against change that would help workers gain a greater voice at a time when our country and our economy so desperately need it," said Jeffrey Cappella, an SEIU spokesman.

PBS: Andy Stern and SEIU protest outside Chamber of Commerce
Emboldened by Democrats taking power in Washington, the Service Employees International Union marched outside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the White House in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. Andy Stern heads the union. He says the economy benefits when workers get a fair deal:

"The Employee Free Choice restores what Franklin Roosevelt did as part of the economic solution to allow workers to have a partnership with their employer, to bargain about wages and benefits and to make sure that they get a chance to be in the middle class. And the good news, it worked in the past and it will work again today."

Workers Independent News: Union Workers Take To Capitol Hill Seeking Votes For Employee Free Choice Act
SEIU grassroots member lobbyist Mike Kingsbury, an RN from Colorado, says workers need this piece of legislative reform to make the freedom to form and join unions not as susceptible to anti-union employer intimidation like he experienced.

"Within fifteen minutes of my boss finding out that we were organizing the director of nursing, who I had never had a meeting with before and one of the other nurse managers from my unit sat me down in an office and talked with me for an hour and a half and just on and on and on about why unions were bad and why it was a bad idea and how misguided I was," said Kingsbury at SEIU's rally in front of the Chamber of Commerce yesterday.

"Without the Employee Free Choice Act we're not gonna have a good recovery. We won't have a complete recovery until we can get something that guarantees workers some of the basic, fundamental rights. These are human rights."

To see more photos from yesterday's actions, watch our Flickr slideshow below:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

On March 19, nationwide "Take Action Against Corporate Excess" demonstrations will take place at the offices of major banks and other corporations in 40+ cities through the country. More details at http://takebacktheeconomy.org/.

Today, the Employee Free Choice Act was introduced in Congress. Want some great reasons to support this bill that you've been hearing so much about? Here's five. (And if you already support it, please contact your Members of Congress and ask them to do the same.)

1. Because more jobs should be good jobs.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last year, it's no surprise that millions of Americans are out of work, losing their health care or their retirement money, or are otherwise in financial straits. Times are tough. And who's taking this economic crisis on the chin? Well, we are, of course.

Four million people have lost their jobs since the recession began in December 2007. It's not for lack of trying. In terms of productivity, people are working harder than ever-- but American workers still haven't gotten a raise. And while jobs and wages are down, the cost of living continues to rise: The average cost of family health insurance plan will go up to $24,000 by 2016. $24,000!

The Employee Free Choice Act says that workers should have the ability to bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits--like affordable quality health care.

2. It's good for the economy.

One of the biggest reasons for our current economic crisis? People literally don't have the cash they need to buy goods and services--which would in turn help the economy. Higher wages and higher benefits would give workers the purchasing power they need to buy more of the goods and services that this economy produces. According to a February report from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, unionization could pump more than $49 billion into the economy.

But don't take it just from us. Last month, forty leading economists, including three Nobel prize winners, took out a full-page ad in the Washington Post offering their reasons for supporting the bill. In the ad, they argued that one of the main reasons for our economic slump is the "erosion of workers' ability to form unions and bargain collectively," that shifted the wealth of our country from "broadly-shared prosperity" to "growing inequality."

3. Barack Obama loves it, and so do most of you.

Not to mention Joe Biden, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, and majorities in both houses of Congress. And according to recent polling, 73% of the public supports it. Just last week, speaking in front of a labor gathering, President Obama vowed to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, stating,

"I have every confidence that if we are willing to do the difficult work that must be done, we will emerge from these trials stronger and more prosperous than we were before. And as we confront this crisis and work to provide health care to every American, rebuild our nation's infrastructure, move toward a clean energy economy, and pass the Employee Free Choice Act, I want you to know that you will always have a seat at the table."

What's not to love about that?

4. Because CEOs should be helping workers, not hurting them.

Want to get really depressed about your paycheck? Compare it to a CEO's. As a testament to the growing income disparity between CEOs and the workers they employ, look no further than Wal-Mart's former CEO, Lee Scott. Scott earned $15,000 an hour in 2007 while Wal-Mart workers earned just $10.68 an hour. On average, CEOs earn 344 times what their typical employee makes.

And yet, when Goldman Sachs received $10 billion in Wall St. bailout funds, they turned around and spent $6.5 billion on bonuses! If the Employee Free Choice Act passed, workers would have more of an opportunity to share in the prosperity they helped create.

5. Because the other side is really scary.

Or at least, they're trying their hardest to scare us. The corporate interests opposing the Employee Free Choice Act have warned of everything from rioting in the streets to, literally, Armageddon if the bill passes. For a sense of just how extreme the other side has gotten, check out our "scary movie" video here:

Corporate interests are bent on lying about the Employee Free Choice Act - they'd have you believe that the bill means the end of the secret ballot - but nothing could be further from the truth. The Employee Free Choice Act simply gives employees the choice to join unions - not the employers. Right now, workers can join unions through majority sign-up or a secret ballot election, and they can do so under the Employee Free Choice Act, too. The only difference is it will be the employees' choice, not the employers.

But don't take it from me - watch Rachel Maddow destruct this argument:

If you're as fired up as we are, go to SEIU.org and sign up to help. It's time for the Employee Free Choice Act.

Crossposted from the Huffington Post here.

An important step toward restoring balance and fairness to our economy was taken today--the Employee Free Choice Act was introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Now that the fight has moved to the halls of Congress, we need to take our campaign to the next level--and give more workers a shot at the American Dream.

Congress will debate and vote on this important bill soon. Your senators and representative need to hear from people back home immediately--they're already hearing from corporate interests.

SEIU President Andy Stern and SEIU member Regina Schwartz recorded a video message for you about the Employee Free Choice Act. Please click here to watch the video and ask your Members of Congress to actively support the Employee Free Choice Act.

The Employee Free Choice Act is essential to our economic recovery - more than $49 billion could be pumped into the economy every year from workers negotiating for better wages, benefits and working conditions. It's the kind of stimulus working people so desperately need.

With the most pro-working family Congress in years, and President Obama committed to the cause, this is our best chance yet to pass this bill. But it's not yet a done deal.

Corporate special interests are twisting arms, spending millions on misleading ads and spreading lies and propaganda to block the bill. We've got to put pressure on members of Congress who haven't signed on--and make sure those who support the bill stay strong.

There's not a moment to lose--watch our short video and email your Members of Congress right now!

The stakes couldn't be higher--giving more workers a fair chance to bargain for better pay, benefits and job security will help restore the struggling middle class and make the economy work for everyone.

Now that the bill has been introduced, it's time for your Members of Congress to hear directly from you.