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Richard Berman and Unionfacts.com – The Ultimate Corporate Mercenary
By Region 8 Member John Davis

Meet Richard Berman, who in my opinion is a corporate mercenary. What is a corporate mercenary you may ask? Well Webster’s Dictionary states that a mercenary is one that serves merely for wages; a solider hired into foreign service. Richard Berman owns a PR company who will take on any corporate cause if the money is right. His latest venture is a website called unionfacts.com where he is spreading confusing information about organized labor. However, labor is in good company for other groups Berman has led demeaning campaigns against include Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, the Surgeon General, National Association of High School Principles, the American Medical Association and the Center for Disease Control. He specializes in attacking groups who support the welfare of the general public with funds provided by the corporations whose products and operations place the general public at risk.

According to consumer advocate website ConsumerDeception.com Berman runs three tax-exempt agencies, which include The Center for Consumer Freedom, the American Beverage Institute and the Employment Policies Institute. For a hefty fee these organizations hire Berman as director and he then hires Berman and Company to run the smear campaigns for these organizations. They raise millions in donations from the corporations who benefit from their work, with between 49 and 79 percent of the donations making their way into Berman’s pocket according to many consumer watchdog groups. According to the Internal Revenue, the Center for Consumer Freedom paid Berman and Company over one million dollars in 2002 for research and communications and another one and a half million dollars in 2003.

His latest project unionfacts.com is reportedly the work of the Chamber of Commerce, which incidentally employed Berman from 1972 until 1974 as their labor law director. This is after he worked as a labor law attorney at Bethlehem Steel from 1967 until 1969 and as a corporate lawyer for automotive manufacturer Dana from 1969 until 1972. From there his resume reads like a laundry list of anti-consumer – anti-worker organizations.

His Center for Consumer Freedom says it's devoted to defending "the right of adults and parents to choose what they eat, drink, and how they enjoy themselves." They constantly attack medical professionals on everything from obesity to smoking. With offices housed just a block from the White House, they have launched a multimillion-dollar campaign to discredit medical findings concerning smoking and alcohol related issues. According to the Center for Media and Democracy this project was jointly funded by Philip Morris Tobacco and the hospitality industry to convince the general public that reports by leading medical institutions on the dangers of tobacco smoke and alcohol abuse were bogus. Does Mr. Berman have a medical degree to support his claims? No he is a lawyer and a lobbyist and they seldom receive medical training in those fields.

Consumerdeception.com also reports that Berman led a campaign against Mothers Against Drunk Drivers on behalf of the alcohol industry. He described the group as “fund raisers who try to scare us away from responsible drinking.” He helped defeat a bill that would lower the legal limits for blood alcohol in drunk driving cases as a lobbyist for the American Beverage Institute. In response to the MADD campaign, Berman said, "I don't believe that having a glass of anything makes it unsafe to go behind the wheel." You can bet that the American Beverage Institute is not promoting the benefits of drinking water. Berman’s client list includes Monsanto, Coca-Cola, Tyson Foods, Philip Morris and Hooters.

In March the Center for Union Facts (Berman’s latest “advocacy group”) ran a full-page ad in papers across the country “exposing” the “lack of minority presence in union leadership.” However, if you look across the page you will find minorities in the photographs of the international leadership of many large unions. The fact of the matter remains is he couldn’t fill the page with all male Caucasian leaders even by cherry picking through the major. The website unionfacts.com proudly boast, “ We provide information that can't be found elsewhere,” referring to their section wages for union officials when in fact all of that information is published information. The site goes on to say they are not against unions but against union corruption and want the public to know the whole truth.” This is the same person who ran a website called fishscam.com to combat FDA and EPA reports on the dangers of the run off of certain types of pesticides are bogus. He also promoted claims that “there is no solid medical evidence that second hand smoke is harmful” when there are dozens of medical experts who have published reports to the contrary.

In a column on March 11, 2006, Washington Post Reporter Al Kamen stated. “The U.S. Department of Labor, which "had been seen as basically in lock step with organized labor's views on employment issues such as workplace safety, wages and benefits," now seems to be promoting the Center for Union Facts. Kamen wrote that Lynn Gibson, the former director of the Young Leaders Program at the conservative Heritage Foundation and now the Department of Labor's public liaison, wrote an email alerting recipients to the "noteworthy" website recently launched by the anti-union group. "The website," Gibson wrote, "Is dedicated to providing information on labor unions and their expenditures. UnionFacts.com launched on Monday, February 13th, and some news links are listed below."

In response to reports that the Center for Union Facts is funded by the National Chamber of Commerce, Berman stated that he “neither asked for nor received contributions.” Rather, he said, he asked chamber officials to recommend that businesses in their states donate to his efforts."

Unionfacts.com misleads the public into believing they are for worker’s rights when Berman lobbied against the Americans with Disabilities Act and arguing against increases in federal minimum wage. Berman has been explicit about his approach. "Our offensive strategy is to shoot the messenger," he once told Chain Leader Magazine, a trade publication for restaurant chains (whose readership presumably doesn't include too many ordinary consumers). "We've got to attack [activists'] credibility as spokespersons." Sounds like a heck of nice guy – right?

Berman hides behind the guise of organizations that pretend to protect your freedom. When in actuality, his sole purpose is to benefit from spreading misleading information to the general public on everything from the dangers of cigarette smoke, to alcohol abuse, dangerous pesticides, unhealthy food groups and the benefits of organized labor. Berman perhaps is the greatest shining example of a corporate mercenary due to the fact his track record proves there is no limit to the depths he will sink to promote the culture of lies and deception to the general public. His allegiances are definitely for sale to the highest bidder.

One of the most interesting sections on unionfacts.com is the information on how to use religious beliefs as a reason for not joining a union. They even sell a book on the subject. Any student of the Bible can show you hundreds of examples in the Bible of helping others and standing together – the very principles on which labor is founded. However, the habit of confusion that Berman’s entire career is based on stands as a perfect example of how a Christian should not act. Just a little education on the subjects can prove how ridiculous Berman’s claims at unionfacts.com are. But then it is doubtful that any one ever accused Richard Berman of being ethical.

Sources Include:
Sourcewatch.org
consumerdeception.com
www.citizensforethics.org
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
www.alternet.org
The Washington Post
New York Times

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