Two items today…

First, Steve Rosenthal tears apart the last bogus poll by Rick Berman’s business front group, “Center for Union Facts.” The poll was much touted by anti-American worker bloggers because it absurdly claimed that most workers don’t want to join a union.  Rosenthal writes:

What this poll “clearly demonstrates” is its lack of seriousness and accuracy by including respondents who would likely never be unionized to begin with. According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), of the 140.5 million people in the civilian workforce, 33.5 million or 23.8% have no rights under the National Labor Relations Act or any other labor law. Furthermore, there were a little over 13 million managers and supervisors in 2005, and about 4 million small business workers without collective bargaining rights because they were employed by businesses too small to fall under the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board.

The CUF question was clearly designed to get the least number of people to say yes as possible.

The Employee Free Choice Act makes it easier for Employees – rather than Employers – to make that choice.

Of course, what Berman’s outfit wants is bold headlines touting the stats and something Republicans can reflexively throw into their talking points. This will likely become a right wing zombie lie, repeated throughout the fight for Employee Free Choice.

Second, Michael Gottesman, a constitutional law professor at Georgetown, had a post yesterday on the American Constitution Society blog deconstructing a highly misleading anti-union op-ed by Richard Epstein in  the Wall Street Journal. Gottesman provides a highly detailed and scholarly legal rebutal that undercuts a lot of bogus spin from Epstein. It’s worth a read, as Epstein’s incorrect constitutional arguments against Employee Free Choice will be seen again during the course of this fight.