Who’s behind anti-union ads about Ford plant in TN? This man’s company
A group called The Center for Union Facts is paying for newspaper ads and billboards in Tennessee that attack the United Auto Workers' possible representation of employees at the soon-to-be-built Ford electric truck plant near Memphis.
But The Center for Union Facts isn't what it seems.
The group's website describes it as "a non-profit organization supported by foundations, businesses, union members, and the general public." But it's actually managed by a company run by Richard "Rick" Berman, a public relations specialist in Washington, D.C.
Berman's own website advertises him as "the industry's weapon of mass destruction."
That's a paraphrase of a quote from a "60 Minutes" profile that also described a nickname opponents have given Berman: "Dr. Evil."
Berman and colleagues have created a network of neutral-sounding nonprofit organizations that take money from businesses and help companies attack activists, unions and regulations who challenge their bottom line.
Berman's company has created commercials attacking organizations that call for humane treatment of animals in farms and slaughterhouses, against possible restrictions on sugary and fatty foods, against environmental activists and against minimum wage increases.
The ads often use humor and images of children and animals to help businesses discredit critics.
He has also led a beverage industry group that opposed restrictions on alcohol sales and challenged Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
And Berman's organization has also launched multiple attacks on labor unions.
"Keep UAW corruption out of Tennessee," one billboard design in the new campaign here says. One newspaper ad in The Tennessean called for secret ballot elections on unionization at the Tennessee plant. A related website highlights recent federal embezzlement convictions of UAW officials.
It's unclear who is paying for the Berman organization's anti-union campaign in Tennessee and why.
A spokesperson for The Center for Union Facts, Charlyce Bozzello, said the organization doesn't disclose its donors. Berman did not respond to requests for an interview. UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg declined to comment.
The Center for Union Facts said in a statement that it was focusing the ads on Nashville and had timed the launch of the Tennessee campaign this week to coincide with a special legislative session to give money to the Ford project. That special session concluded Oct. 20 with the legislature approving an $884 million package. Rep. Scott Cepicky, R-culleoka, proposed a measure to require workers to cast secret ballots in order to unionize, but it failed to advance.
It's not clear if the anti-union campaign might now end, or if it presages a longer-term fight over unionization at the proposed new Ford plant.
Tennessee auto plants and unions today
The General Motors plant in Spring Hill is represented by the UAW. Unions have not succeeded in organizing the state's other two major auto plants: the Nissan plant in Smyrna and the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga.
On Sept. 27, Ford Motor Company announced it had chosen the Memphis Regional Megasite in Stanton as its new site to build an electric truck factory, plus a battery factory in coordination with South Korean company SK Innovation.
The combined project, dubbed Blue Oval City, is expected to employ about 5,800 people when manufacturing begins in 2025.
It's not immediately clear if a union election might take place when the plant opens years from now, or whether Ford might voluntarily recognize the UAW.
Ford has said it will respect workers' choice to unionize or not. Ford declined to make a staffer available for an interview on the Berman organization's campaign.
Berman's role in Center for Union Facts
In a 2007 feature, the CBS show "60 Minutes" described Berman's process for creating nonprofit front groups:
"He's come up with a clever system of nonprofit educational entities. Companies can make charitable donations to these groups, which have names like Center for Consumer Freedom and Center for Union Facts, neutral sounding, but educating with a particular point of view. All perfectly legal."
The Center for Union Facts is registered as a nonprofit, but its tax returns show that it's managed by a public relations company, Richard Berman and Company. Berman also acts as the nonprofit's president. And the nonprofit's tax return lists the same Washington address as Berman's public relations business.
'60 Minutes' story profiled 'Dr. Evil'
Berman appears to embrace his image as a ruthless public relations consultant who takes the fight to an industry's enemies. His company's own website includes clips from the CBS TV show "60 Minutes" which described him as follows:
"Berman's the booze and food industry's six-foot-four weapon of mass destruction."
"60 Minutes" also mentioned one name that opponents have given him: "Dr. Evil."
"He takes a certain pride, even joy, in that nickname, but the people who use it see nothing funny about it," correspondent Morley Safer said, according to a transcript.
"They mean it. His real name is Rick Berman, a Washington lobbyist and archenemy of other lobbyists and dogooders who would have government control and even ban a myriad of products they claim are killing us.
"Products like caffeine, salt, fast food and the oil they fry it in. He's against Mothers Against Drunk Driving, animal rights activists, food watchdog groups, and unions of every kind.
"He believes we are fast becoming a nation of passive children ruled by the iron thumb of self-appointed nannies, and he gets paid good money to keep all those Mary Poppinses at bay, and they've reserved a special place in hell for him."
Berman argued in the show that the name-calling is a sign of his power.
“If the other side thinks I'm all of these bad things, the one thing they must think is I'm effective, or else they wouldn't be b------- about it so much.”
In a secretly recorded 2014 speech to the Western Energy Alliance, according to The New York Times, Berman described how his organization ran aggressive campaigns against individual environmental activists and liberal celebrities.
For instance, one billboard attacked movie star Robert Redford as a hypocrite: "Demands Green Living. Flies on private jets."
The New York Times reported: "Mr. Berman repeatedly boasted about how he could take checks from the oil and gas industry executives — he said he had already collected six-figure contributions from some of the executives in the room — and then hide their role in funding his campaigns."
The article continued: “People always ask me one question all the time: ‘How do I know that I won't be found out as a supporter of what you're doing?' ” Mr. Berman told the crowd. “We run all of this stuff through nonprofit organizations that are insulated from having to disclose donors. There is total anonymity. People don't know who supports us.”
Campaign highlights
UAW embezzlement cases
Berman has repeatedly said his campaigns are based on factual information — and top UAW officials have in fact faced federal corruption charges recently.
Gary Jones served as UAW president in 2018-2019 and was accused of embezzling as much as $1.5 million from the union.
Jones pleaded guilty and cooperated with the government. In June, he was sentenced to 28 months in prison.
Another former UAW president, Dennis Williams, likewise was sentenced this year, bringing the total number of people convicted in a long-running federal corruption probe to about 15.
New UAW president Eric Curry took office this summer and said he would clean up the organization. "I pledge to continue to build upon our commitment to a culture of transparency, reforms and checks and balances," he said in a statement.
As part of a settlement with the government, a former federal prosecutor was appointed to oversee the union for up to six years.
Also as part of the settlement, UAW'S members will soon vote on a referendum that would allow direct elections of top leaders: critics within the union have argued that an indirect election method allowed top leaders to gain unchecked power.
Reporter Daniel Connolly is a current vice president of the Memphis Newspaper Guild, a labor union.
Investigative reporter Daniel Connolly welcomes tips and comments from the public. Reach him at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.