Ed Gorham, president of Maine’s chapter of the AFL-CIO, had one word to describe Employee Freedom’s ads: Despicable.

“We appreciate the concern of the group that Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola is financing,” Gorham said. “But they’ve never been friends of working people.”

The argument is over the Employee Free Choice Act, which expands the options for unions to organize. Employee Freedon, the group working against the legislation, argues that the new option -- a majority sign-up -- does not include an election in the workplace, yielding an undemocratic process and opening the doors for intimidation.

The proponents

Maine’s chapter of the AFL-CIO strongly supports the legislation – and candidates who support it.

Right now about 80,000 workers – or about 15 percent of Maine’s work force – is organized, Gorham said. This includes state and public workers and employees of both shipyards and all but one paper mill.

AFL-CIO leaders are backing the Democrats in Maine’s three national races: Mike Michaud (D-East Millinocket) and Chellie Pingree (D-North Haven) for Congress, and Tom Allen (D-Portland) for Senate.

Gorham said the private ballot argument is a mischaracterization. The act keeps the current system in place, but adds another option.

Gorham said that often, while waiting for an election to occur, employers intervene by terminating union organizers, hiring anti-union consultants, and holding meetings where employers talk about the dangers of organizing. The EFCA forbids these practices, and will award triple damages in cases where employers violate them.

In one recent case, the International Association of Machinists won a representation election against Knight Celotex, a Lisbon Falls company.

Last week the employers announced the company was shutting down. “It’s clearly in retaliation for having voted the union in,” Gorham said.

A plant official told the Lewiston Sun Journal last week, however, that the shut-down had nothing to do with the union vote.

The case is now pending before the National Labor Relations Board.

Peter Kellman, President of the Southern Maine Labor Council, said he has experienced the injustice in union organizing personally. He said he once lost his job for trying to organize.

“Once you file and an election day is set, the company then goes into war mode,” Kellman said. “They have captive audience meetings, where they bring everybody together and they say it’s not in their best interest to have a union.

“When your employer says that, and that’s the same person who signs your check, it has a very harmful effect on free speech.”

He said in some cases the employers meet to talk about the individuals involved, and devise a plan to talk each one out of it.

“They’ll make all kinds of threats, they’ll find out if you owe money, for example, and they’ll play on that,” Kellman said. “They’ll actually have a campaign for every single person involved. Now these ads on TV talk about democratic rights. Well where the hell are the democratic rights in this process? They don’t exist. Those are fascist elections, that’s what they are.”

THE OPPONENTS

Business leaders in Maine have come out against the legislation.

“If you read the proposed law, it would be illegal to have a traditional private election once the union organizers convinced enough workers (a simple majority) to sign a public card. The union bosses are the ones who will decide if there is a private ballot. Workers’ votes will be made public to their employer, union organizers and co-workers,” wrote Stacey Morrison, CEO and owner of Ganneston Construction Corp. in Augusta, in a letter to the editor to the Bangor Daily News.

Morrison could not be reached for further comment.

Doug Newman, a board member for the Maine chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors, has also written to the BDN on the issue.

“Workers’ right to unionize is protected, and the right to do so with a secret ballot should remain protected as well. The Employee Free Choice Act threatens that right and threatens to subject workers to intense coercion when handed their card to sign. Progress in the workplace won’t be achieved with strong-arming and intimidation. Mainers must stand up to this deceptive legislation and let the private ballot stand,” he wrote.

Previous coverage:

Cutting through the spin: Breaking down the EFCA

Video: Allen responds to the anti-EFCA ads

527 group pushes Collins-Allen poll (commentary)

Group hits Allen on support of card-check legislation

Online videos: Anti-EFCA group confronts Mainers

AFL-CIO: Anti-EFCA ad with Sopranos star a smokescreen

Further comments on the EFCA