8/21/2008 - 100 ME Dems, Workers Fight Back Against False Ads Targeting Tom Allen With 'Stop the Lies' Protest in Monument Square
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2008
CONTACT: REBECCA POLLARD, 772-4353
Big business bus tour attempting to prop up Susan Collins meets staunch opposition
(PORTLAND, MAINE) - Approximately 100 union workers and Democrats gathered in Portland's Monument Square today to show their support for U.S. Representative and Senate Nominee Tom Allen, for Maine's workers, and to set the record straight on the false and offensive television ads that are being run by big businesses trying to elect Susan Collins.
The group's "Stop the Lies" counter-demonstration greeted the massive "Vote for Business" U.S. Chamber of Commerce bus when it pulled up and attempted to drum up opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that would make it easier for workers to form unions.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and companies like Wal-Mart have spent millions in television advertising to promote candidates such as Collins who favor their interests over their workers' interests. They attempt to link organized labor with organized crime, and falsely misrepresent Tom Allen's consistent record of standing up for the rights of workers.
"Today we spoke loudly and clearly to make sure everyone knows who the real supporter of hard-working Mainers is, and that's Tom Allen," said Rebecca Pollard, communications director for the Maine Democratic Party. "With all the mill jobs Maine has lost while the wealthy corporations were rewarded with tax breaks, no one knows better than Mainers how important it is to strengthen the ability of workers to form a union. These television ads are outright lies."
Even the Chamber of Commerce apparently was impressed with the level of outrage that the ads have spurred in Maine. A Chamber staff member on the bus tour told the Associated Press, "the show of opposition Thursday was the largest that her group has encountered since it left Atlanta on Aug. 8 as part of a 32-state tour." [AP, Seacoastonline.com, 8/21/08]
The ads falsely state that the bill would remove workers' right to a secret ballot. The Employee Free Choice Act, which Allen supported, would give workers an additional way to sign-up for a union, but it does not take away their right to a secret ballot. The bill actually makes it easier to organize, because current law allows time for employers to intimidate and threaten their employees to make sure they are never able to form a union at all.
Click here to see a detailed breakdown of these insulting ads.
