In recent months, a whole slew of research has emerged showing why we need to restore workers' freedom to form unions and bargain through the Employee Free Choice Act.

Today, a new UC Berkeley report was released advance, granting further proof that the "union advantage" is substantial. The report, authored by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education and the Labor Project for Working Families, found that companies with more unionized workers are more likely to pay for family health insurance premiums, embrace paid leave, and allow the use of personal leave to care for a sick child.

The economic crisis our nation is experiencing has been particularly devastating for workers, giving the need to pass legislation that will help ease the burden on working families a renewed urgency. Our economy is going full-throttle down a devastating path that's shrinking the middle class--but unions can help. Why? It's simple - unions raise wages and benefits for all workers, reduce worker turnover, protect our retirement, and lift up the economy by increasing the purchasing power of hard-working Americans.

"Today's report underscores that, at a time when many greedy corporations are cruelly cutting wages, healthcare and retirement security, unionized workplaces continue to promote family-friendly policies that build a strong middle-class," said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger.

A few of the report's key findings:

Research has shown that 60 million American workers would join a union tomorrow if they could--and this report is further evidence of the many benefits unionized workers receive in the workplace compared to their nonunion counterparts. Unions have been responsible for the creation of the middle class, and pioneered such benefits as health care, pensions, even the weekend. But in the last several decades, forming a union in the workplace has become increasingly difficult, in large part because of the ineffectiveness of current labor law to protect and enforce workers' rights in the election process.

Study authors Jenifer MacGillvary of the Labor Center at the University of California-Berkeley and Netsy Firestein of the Labor Project for Working Families also note union members are more likely to have access to resources like child care referrals, education assistance, vacation days and wellness programs. "As a mother, I know that millions of women struggle to raise a healthy, happy family while their employers refuse to allow them to care for a sick child, or to provide affordable healthcare," said Anna Burger. "Passing the Employee Free Choice Act, critical legislation that would allow workers to bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits, would have ripple effects across the economy."

No matter what else we do to turn around America's economy and rebuild the middle class, we will not have broadly shared prosperity until we restore workers' free choice to bargain with their companies for a better life--without corporate intimidation. Read the full report: "Family-Friendly Workplaces: Do Unions Make a Difference?"

When the U.S. Chamber of Commerce opposed early versions of the healthcare bill Tuesday, we weren't surprised. This is, after all, the same group that colorfully told the Associated Press it was "time to unload the powder and fill the musket" in their fight against health care reform. Call us cynical, but we didn't think they were planning on using that $100 million "campaign to defend the free market" on tea parties and Civil War reenactments.

The fact is, America's healthcare system is broken and all the right-wing continues to do is champion the status quo and purposely distort the reality of what fixing healthcare will mean to millions of American families. The Chamber's assault on the current bill is simply the latest in a string of attacks on common-sense healthcare reforms during the course of their existence. Here's our "Top 10."

Top 10 Historical Chamber Quotes Against Healthcare

10. U.S. Chamber of Commerce Denounced Patients' Bill of Rights As Special Interest Giveaway To Trial Lawyers. Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said that 2001 of the Patients' Bill of Rights "should be called the Trial Lawyers' Right to Bill...adding new mandates and expanding liability will only serve to increase insurance costs and undermine employers' ability to offer this valuable benefit." [U.S. Chamber of Commerce Press Release, 6/12/01 ]

9. U.S. Chamber Spokesman Said OSHA Is a "Blatant Denial of Fundamental Fairness." When describing the structure of the Labor Department within the Executive Branch rather than the Judicial Branch of the government, Richard Berman, director of labor law for the United States Chamber of Commerce, said "This has a chilling effect on an employer's exercise of his right to appeal and is thus a blatant denial of fundamental fairness." [U.S. News & World Report, 11/24/75]

• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Vigorously Opposed Occupational Safety Regulations and "led the fight to defeat the 1968 bill." In an article written between the initial bill supported by President Johnson and the second bill, that passed, supported by President Nixon, the New York Times reported: "The first legislation providing for a comprehensive nationwide system of health and safety standards was proposed last year by President Johnson. Strongly supported by labor, the bill ran into immediate and vigorous opposition from industry, led by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States." [New York Times, 12/10/69; New York Times, 3/19/70]

8. U.S. Chamber President Called OSHA "An Abysmal Failure." In 1980, Richard L. Lesher, President of the U.S. Chamber of Congress, charged, "OSHA at best has been a major disappointment, at worst an abysmal failure." "To date, there has been no solid documentation that OSHA has yielded any gains in safety or health," said Lesher. [AP, 4/1/80]

7. U.S. Chamber Spokesman Compared Employer Mandates to Jumping on a "Runaway Train." In 1989, U.S. Chamber Spokesman Frederick J. Krebs was asked by the Washington Post about employer mandated coverage and said, "Health-care costs are out of control -- so being forced to provide these benefits is like being told to jump on a runaway train." [The Washington Post, 4/13/89]

6. Referring to Mental Health Parity Legislation, Chamber Officials Said Personal Tragedy is a "Poor Way to Make Legislation." Complaining that opposing Republicans on mental health parity legislation put them in an awkward position, Neil Trautwein, manager of health care policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said, "It's tremendous to have someone with the stature of Pete Domenici or Alan Simpson get up and describe these personal tragedies, but it's often a poor way to make legislation," says Trautwein. "An emotional argument late in the night is not the way to make policy." [The Washington Post, 6/19/96]

We thought we'd save the best for last, so: be sure to read the "top 5" quotes, after the break.

The very same day that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced a $100 million campaign to "defend the free market system," SEIU announced a campaign of its own: to expose the Chamber's record of opposing working families and common-sense legislation that would help our economy. The campaign will launch today with a new ad designed to tie the Chamber's current opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act to their past opposition of popular legislation like the Family Medical and Leave Act, SCHIP, and raising the minimum wage.

Watch the ad here:

"While Americans are losing their jobs, their retirement security and their health care, the greedy CEOs that the U.S. Chamber represents have brought us nothing more than executive bonuses and taxpayer-funded bailouts," said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger. "Now they've announced a deep-pocketed misinformation campaign. Let me tell you: It's going to take more than a $100 million PR campaign to make people believe that greedy CEOs have their best interests at heart. They're going to have to start behaving differently."

The ad, entitled "Bad Company," will run online in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Louisiana, Virginia and North Dakota.

"Over the next couple of months, you're going to hear from a wide coalition of interests, from small businesses to environmental groups, exposing the U.S. Chamber's assault on common-sense legislation across the board," continued Burger. "We'll never be able to outspend Big Business, but luckily, we'll have the will of every American who believes we should give average workers a dollar raise before we give another CEO a million-dollar bonus."

In an April poll from Public Strategies, Inc., just 37 percent of Americans said they trusted corporations to "do the right thing." Recently, the Chamber of Commerce even admitted that they still accept taxpayer-funded bailout money to fund their ad campaign against the Employee Free Choice Act.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is launching a $1 million television ad campaign this week against the Employee Free Choice Act, adding to the millions they've already spent to circulate lies about the bill. The new attack ads feature management-level employees sounding outraged about "un-American" legislation that would allow "a bureaucrat from Washington" to tell people how to run their businesses.

In other words, simply a remix of the same, tired arguments the Chamber has used for decades to defeat popular pieces of legislation. We've highlighted some of these recycled critiques for you here:

When confronted with legislation that would improve American workers' lives, the Chamber of Commerce invariably threatens economic ruin and unbridled bureaucratic control to lobby support for their anti-worker point of view.

Thankfully, their predictions have never come true. Consider the important pieces of legislation the Chamber has lobbied against in the past:

On rights for people with disabilities: When the Americans with Disabilities Act was being debated back in 1989, the Chamber opposed it, saying, "Small businesses simply do not have the money in the bank."
("Disabled-Rights Bill Praised and Feared," Newsday, 9/9/89)

On guaranteed family medical leave: The Chamber opposed the Family Medical Leave Act back in 1991, claiming, "We think most Americans don't want the federal government to be their personnel administrators." ("Alternative Parental Leave Bill," Washington Post, 5/15/91)

On minimum wage increases: In 2007, the Chamber also opposed increasing the minimum wage, claiming that "Even this modest increase will hurt free enterprise."

Had enough of the same old lies? Join our campaign to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

Read more about this legislation at seiu.org/employeefreechoice.