The U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a $1 million television campaign in five states, including Virginia, to oppose the misnamed “Employee Free Choice Act,” also known as “Card Check.” The bill before Congress would effectively eliminate workers’ private vote when deciding whether or not to form a union, allow the federal government to set wages and working conditions, and impose one-sided penalties on employers, said The COC.
The Chamber also launched TV ads in Louisiana, Nebraska, Colorado, and North Dakota. By allowing small business and community leaders to voice their opposition to the Card Check legislation, the ads support the Chamber’s grassroots campaign to expand the bipartisan opposition to the bill, particularly in the Senate.
The Chamber will also begin running radio ads this week in Alaska and South Dakota.
“These ads send the message that Card Check is fundamentally hostile to Main Street values and jobs in Virginia,” said Steven Law, the Chamber’s chief legal officer and general counsel. “The grassroots opposition reflected in these ads is changing minds on Capitol Hill as evidenced by increasing bipartisan resistance to the bill.”
The Chamber’s campaign comes a week after Senator Blanche Lincoln’s (D-AR) decision to oppose advancing Card Check, making opposition to the bill bipartisan in the Senate.
The bill needs 60 votes to advance in the Senate, though recent announcements of opposition by Senators Lincoln and Arlen Specter (R-PA) have left the bill’s future clouded.
To view the Chamber’s new ads, click on www.uschamber.com/wfi
