NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, November 29, 2015, 4:00 AM
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HANDOUTRichard Berman has campaigned against raising the minimum wage and opposes providing sick leave to workers.
A billboard in Times Square that accuses city construction unions of racial bias has co-opted the name of a growing activist campaign, declaring that black workers matter.
The provocative message, which promotes something called blackworkersmatter.org, has an unusual sponsor. Richard Berman is a white millionaire and a former labor management lawyer, who critics say plays fast and loose with economic data. He has campaigned against raising the minimum wage and opposes providing sick leave to workers.
But the idea that Berman appropriated the Black Lives Matter movement for an anti-union campaign was no surprise to those familiar with his methods.
This advertisement for Black Workers Matter is on a billboard in Times Square.
Berman earned the tag “Dr. Evil” from “60 Minutes” for his unique strategy: He sets up non-profits to advocate on behalf of corporate clients without having to reveal their identities — all while making a hefty profit for himself.
The use of blackworkersmatter is typical Berman. He deliberately picks provocative names for his causes. When he went after the animal rights group PETA on behalf of meat producers, he set up a website called Petakillsanimals.com.
“He makes it so you’re going to be confused,” said Melanie Sloan, former director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan watchdog group that highlights Berman’s tactics on a website Bermanexposed.com.
The use of blackworkersmatter in particular struck some of those who study the racial balance of labor unions as bizarre.
“The suggestion that this emerging black movement would embrace this cause is ridiculous,” said Ruth Milkman, research director at the City University of New York’s Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies.
In May the University of California at Berkeley’s Labor Center issued a report urging a partnership between the Black Lives Matter movement and labor unions. They used the hashtag #blackworkersmatter.
SAM COSTANZA/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Advocate Melanie Sloan(r.) says Berman’s message is intentionally confusing. A Times Square billboard (l.) states that on average, black union construction workers in NYC make $23.70 per hour.
Steven Pitt, a co-author of that report, declined to criticize Berman’s use of the same phrase, but noted, “He’s a political animal. They do what they have to do.”
Berman is indeed a political animal, having over the last decade set up a score of nonprofits to advocate on behalf of big corporations for a wide variety of issues.
Last year his Employment Policy Institute mounted a national bid to fight a push to raise the minimum wage and require employers to provide sick leave to workers. He’s gone after Mothers Against Drunk Driving for liquor companies and attacked former Mayor Michael Bloomberg over his attempts to regulate soda.
The blackworkersmatter billboard and website are funded by Berman’s Center for Union Facts, a nonprofit that has spent millions of dollars attacking unions around the nation.
As with all his nonprofits, Berman declines to reveal who is funding the Center for Union Facts. He says only that the money comes from “a national donor base.”
As with all his nonprofits, Berman declines to reveal who is funding the Center for Union Facts. He says only that the money comes from “a national donor base.”
He said he got the idea for blackworkersmatter when he saw New York City construction unions boasting about recruiting minorities for apprenticeship programs.
“I saw the unions putting out ads about how fair they are to minorities. I know enough about unions in construction that I knew this didn’t smell right. I thought they were clearly shading the numbers to make it look like they were better than they are.”
His Times Square billboard, which went up Nov. 16, states that on average, black union construction workers in New York City make $23.70 per hour, compared to $29.44 for white unionized construction workers.
Several experts who study the racial balance of labor unions say that’s probably true, but it misses a huge point: The median income of unionized black construction workers nationwide is 50% more than their nonunion counterparts.
Pitt, of the University of California at Berkeley, notes that that’s even slightly better than the 47% premium that white union construction workers enjoy versus their nonunion peers.
“What they’re heading toward is unions are part of the problem,” Pitt said. “That’s why it’s important to note that unionized workers are better off than nonunion workers. That’s the part that’s missing.”
The blackworkersmatter billboard and website are funded by Berman’s Center for Union Facts, a nonprofit that has spent millions of dollars attacking unions around the nation.
And in New York City, the average pay statistic is distorted by the fact that some construction unions that pay higher salaries for skilled work — such as crane operators — tend to be whiter.
Other unions are far more diverse. A survey of 11 laborers locals within the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York found 18,394 of 35,980 members are minorities. That’s 51%.
Gary LaBarbera, president of the Trades Council, noted that once you’re in a union, whether you’re black or white you receive the same benefits.
“Collective bargaining agreements are the great equalizer,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re black, if you’re white, if you’re Hispanic, if you’re female. The rates are set. There is absolutely no discrepancy between any worker based on race or gender.”
Milkman, of CUNY’s Murphy Institute, singled out Berman for his selective use of statistics: “It’s a plausible number that they report, but it completely distorts the picture.”
The use of blackworkersmatter in particular struck some of those who study the racial balance of labor unions as bizarre.
The Murphy Institute report issued in September found that in New York City, the median hourly income for unionized black workers was $22, far above the $16.03 median income for non-union black workers.
“That’s what’s misleading about that billboard,” Milkman said.
Richard Weiss, spokesman for Laborers-Employers Education & Cooperation Trust, went a step further, accusing Berman of playing the race card:
“Because the truth and facts do not support the message he is spreading, he must resort to provocative, hateful rhetoric. Mr. Berman’s race-baiting, racist tactics only serve to inflame and divide our communities. There is a reason why his supporters and clients remain faceless and nameless. They are ashamed to be publicly associated with him.”
The group behind the billboard, the Center for Union Facts, is similar to all of the non-profits Berman has set up in another way: They all hire Berman’s for-profit PR firm.
In the last five years, the center alone has paid Berman's PR firm more than $3.59 million, according tax records filed from 2009 through 2013, the last year filed.
Because of this arrangement, the Center for Union Facts and three other Berman “charities” have all been red-flagged by Charity Navigator, a watchdog group.
The group warns donors that Berman is steering a huge percentage of his charitable donations into his for-profit firm.
In all four, Berman — as “president” of the non-profits — picks his PR firm and decides how much to pay himself.
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