An out-of-state group called “Employee Freedom” is running radio ads in Maine attacking Rep. Tom Allen and Maine unions for their support of the Employee Free Choice Act. The ads spread falsehoods about the legislation and also imply that unions are run by gangsters.

These ads directly accuse organized labor of “corruption” that is typical of “organized crime.” Maine working men and women, both union and non-union, and Maine voters should and do resent this type of negative campaign advertising. It has no place in Maine politics or in the discussion of important pending legislation.

These ads falsely state that the Employee Free Choice Act will “pressure” workers into joining unions and take away their right to vote on formation of a union. Nothing could be further from the truth.

This legislation does not outlaw the election process; workers can still have an election if they want one. However, it puts the choice of how employees form their union – by ballot or card – in workers’ hands. Right now, the employer – not the workers – gets to choose how, when and where workers form their union.

Well more than half of American workers say they would like to join a union. The reason they don’t do so is that they are afraid of being fired for joining a union or even having a meeting to discuss joining a union.

In an editorial last year, the Bangor Daily News recognized this fact of workplace life and became only the fourth newspaper in the United States to support the Employee Free Choice Act, noting that employer intimidation has tipped the “balance of power” against unions to the detriment of the average worker.

When employees try to exercise their rights to form unions, employers routinely block them, and labor laws are helpless to stop it. A recent study shows that one out of five activists trying to form a union is likely to be fired.

There were 31,358 cases in 2005 – one year alone – in which employers had to provide back pay to workers in cases involving illegal firings or other discrimination against workers who exercised their federally protected labor law rights.

More than three-quarters of private employers require supervisors to deliver anti-union messages to the workers whose jobs and pay they control, according to research done at Cornell University. Half of the employers threaten to shut down if employees unionize. Even after workers form a union, one-third of employers never negotiate a contract.

Some of this is legal and some is not. The current system has such weak remedies and lax enforcement that it actually encourages employers to violate workers’ rights.

Rep. Allen is being attacked in radio ads by this out-of-state organization for his support of the Employee Free Choice Act. He is far from being alone in support of EFCA. He is part of a rapidly growing national movement that realizes that the current situation and illegal employer actions are preventing workers from making a free choice about having a union in their workplace.

National, state and local political leaders are joining the rising tide of support for the bill. Unfortunately, Sen. Susan Collins is not among them.

More than 36 state and local legislative bodies have endorsed the act. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Employee Free Choice Act in March. The bill, S. 1041, is now pending in the Senate.

The act would give working men and women back a basic right to self-organization, a real tool in their daily fight to stay out of the ranks of the working poor. It would level the playing field for workers and restore their freedom to form unions and bargain. It would strengthen penalties on companies that coerce or intimidate employees and establish mediation and binding arbitration when the employer and workers cannot agree on a first contract. It would enable employees to form unions when a majority sign union authorization cards.

The simple fact is that America isn’t working the way it should for working people. Just ask the 3,400 workers laid off from Circuit City, who were told to re-apply for their jobs for lower pay. Just ask workers at International Paper Co. who have seen their jobs shipped overseas. Just ask those struggling without health care or good job prospects.

Sixty million of America’s workers say they would form a union tomorrow if given the chance. After all, a union card is the single best ticket to the middle class in this nation.

Maine workers and voters need to base their actions and votes on reality, not on the falsehoods of a smear campaign against Tom Allen, unions and the Employee Free Choice Act.

Edward Gorham is president of the Maine AFL-CIO.