Okay, I'm writing this one in anger. The Washington Post printed a letter today from Richard Berman, the executive director of the Center for Union Facts [think business front group], that attacked a study that we did on the probability that an activist would be fired in a union organizing campaign. The letter claimed that the Center for Economic and Policy Research (my place) is "union-funded." It also claimed that the study, "Dropping the Ax: Illegal Firings During Union Election Campaigns," by John Schmitt and Ben Zipperer, relied on data "that are more than two decades old." In fact, CEPR gets no money from unions at present and union contributions have never accounted for more than a tiny share of our budget. The study, which updated a 1991 study published in the University of Chicago Law Review, relied on data from the National Labor Relations Board running through 2005. What the hell is wrong with the Post? They could have found out that Berman's claims were not true with a quick phone call or visit to our website. Would the Post be so casual in printing a letter claiming that Microsoft cheated on its taxes or that Pfizer's latest blockbuster drug is dangerous? Oh yes, the Berman letter does happen to agree with the Post's editorial position on this issue. (The Post broke one of its own unions by hiring replacement workers during a strike in the 90s.) Update: The Post printed my letter this morning (4-24-07) responding to the Berman letter: A Research Center's Facts -- and Funds Tuesday, April 24, 2007; A20 The April 21 letter from Richard Berman, executive director of the Center for Union Facts, contained two blatant misstatements about the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) and our work. First, the letter described CEPR as "union-funded." Actually, CEPR receives no money from unions at present, and union funding never made up more than a tiny share of our budget. Second, the letter claimed that our estimate that one in five activists in union-organizing campaigns is fired was "derived from figures that are more than two decades old." In fact, the study Mr. Berman referred to, "Dropping the Ax: Illegal Firings During Union Election Campaigns," updated a study published in the University of Chicago Law Review with data through 2005, the most recent data available at the time. DEAN BAKER Co-Director Center for Economic and Policy Research Washington The published letter excluded the concluding sentence, "the Washington Post could have easily verified both of these facts by calling CEPR or simply looking at our website" from the original letter.
--Dean Baker
