It was an unusual scene at the Nebraska State Capitol: on one side, the elected state treasurer, announcing from taxpayer property the creation of a new "grassroots" organization that opposes the Employee Free Choice Act. And on the other side were the grassroots themselves: dozens of working Nebraskans from all walks of life, come to show their support for the very same bill.

Now I was at that press conference, and, frankly, I still don't know much about this new organization. I don't know if "Nebraskans for Workers Rights" includes any real workers (in any case, none were present that day and none are even mentioned on their website), I don't know where they get their funding.

Here's an update from SEIU President Andy Stern and Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger regarding efforts to get our economy back on track.

Big Business is working overtime ... not to help get our troubled economy get back on track, but to prevent American workers from freely being able to join unions and bargain for better wages, health benefits and job security.

We see it with the fifteen year long struggle by workers at Smithfield in North Carolina, who overcame employer threats and intimidation - including illegal firing of union supporters -- and recently voted for a union. And we see it in the latest round of false and misleading advertising, by corporate special interests who want to maintain their power to keep wages and benefits as low as possible by lobbying to stop Congress from passing the Employee Free Choice Act.

To set the record straight, American Rights at Work, a nonprofit advocacy organization, recently launched a series of "Fact Check" print ads which have appeared in The Hill, Roll Call, Politico, and the National Journal' s Daily Congress AM. These ads counter the lies and half-truths with the real facts about how the Employee Free Choice Act is a vital part of rebuilding our country's middle class in order to revitalize our shaken economy.

Here are some of the facts:

• Workers in unions earn 30% higher wages and are 59% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance (www.bls.gov).
• 68% of middle class Americans would like their Members of Congress to vote for the Employee Free Choice Act (www.drummajorinstitute.org).
• During union organizing campaigns, over 94% of employers resist their workers' efforts to form unions, and 25% even fire union supporters (University of Illinois at Chicago).

And to those wondering about big business' alleged concerns about preserving workers' right to a secret ballot, rest easy: The Employee Free Choice Act does NOT eliminate the right to a secret ballot election. What it does is leaves the decision on whether to have an election with the workers, where it belongs.

The ads can be viewed at the links below.

* First ad

* Second Ad

In conjunction with American Rights at Work's Fact Check campaign, SEIU's Change That Works campaign has begun sending email communications to share important information about why the time for Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act is now.

Please send this link http://freechoice.seiu.org/page/s/freechoiceupdate to your friends so they can sign up to get the Facts and stay informed about the Employee Free Choice Act.