A new anti-union campaign launched Wednesday in full-page Detroit newspaper ads portrays the UAW as having a "culture of corruption" that's willing to "sell out union members."

The ads, purchased by a Washington-based group with a history of activism in Michigan and nationwide, appeared in both the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News. The message strikes at the heart of the UAW, based in Detroit and mired in an ongoing federal criminal probe tied to corruption centered at the union's joint training center with Fiat Chrysler.

Behind the campaign is the Center for Union Facts, which is described on its website as an "online empire exposing big labor." The center excerpted quotes from news articles about the corruption case, which has resulted in eight criminal convictions.

"Think the UAW has the best interests of union members in mind?" the ad asks. "Think again."

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This comes just months before the UAW begins negotiating four-year wage and benefit contracts with Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler. The current contract expires in September.

The newspaper ads dovetail with the launch of a website designed specifically to undermine the credibility of the powerful UAW with sections titled, "corrupt leadership" and "lavish lifestyles" and "member neglect" and "plant closures." It names top officials with individual pages devoted to various elements of the federal lawsuit.

"For the last year, the UAW has claimed that the corruption scandal unearthed by the ongoing federal investigation is just the result of a couple of bad apples. But as the investigation continues to unfold, it's becoming obvious that there's a pervasive culture of corruption at the union that goes all the way to the top," Charlyce Bozzello, communications director for the Center for Union Facts, told the Free Press.

"The site makes that clear for union members and employees who might be considering bringing the UAW to their workplace."

UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg told the Free Press that the ad is no surprise.

"For what it's worth, this is a well-known anti-worker organization," he said. "The UAW has repeatedly expressed its disappointment and efforts to adopt a clean slate reform agenda to make sure these issues never happen again."

Campaign cost: $6,800

The cost of the black and white full-page ads, for both newspapers, is $6,800, according to Charlie Hunt, regional account executive at Michigan.com.

The same ad would have cost $17,000 if run on Thursday, Friday or Sunday, which have higher circulation because they are delivered to subscribers' homes. Color ads are slightly more expensive.

This ad also comes during renewed UAW efforts to organize the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The UAW filed for an election last week and has a National Labor Relations Board hearing that potentially impacts more than 1,700 assembly workers who build the Volkswagen Passat, a midsize car, and Volkswagen Atlas, an SUV.

Rothenberg, who is based in Detroit but had traveled To Tennessee, said, "Chattanooga workers are the only VW workers in the world that don't have the right to bargain. VW workers throughout the world have unions. Why are they treated differently in Chattanooga?"

VW labor talks

On Wednesday, Volkswagen told the Free Press the union situation is fluid.

“We believe we can achieve more for the company and our workers by continuing an open dialogue," said VW spokesman Mark Clothier. "For a few examples, we’ve heard the concerns that our workers have raised in this open dialogue and we’ve responded with improvements in working conditions: we’ve adjusted shift work, we’ve reduced overtime to have more predictability and we’ve raised wages."

Clothier added, "Nevertheless, we respect our workers’ right to decide on representation and have always believed that any election for the Chattanooga plant should include both production and maintenance employees. We will now take steps to ensure that the prior maintenance-only petition is properly resolved first. As a company, and as colleagues, we will respect the decision of our team.”

Taint of corruption

While the UAW works to grow its ranks, most recently having seen significant growth among Las Vegas-based casino workers, the worker training corruption case risks doing long-term damage that harms the union's ability to recruit new members and retain members already paying dues.

"The statements in the ad consist of accurate quotes and facts and anti-UAW rhetoric," said Gary Klotz, a longtime employment lawyer based in Detroit.

"This is the kind of negative commentary that the UAW will be confronted with in organizing campaigns for years to come," he said.

"In addition, if more UAW officials, especially (former president) Dennis Williams and past or present UAW senior officers, are indicted and plead guilty or are convicted, the UAW will be attacked as a corrupt union by employers for a very long time in union organizing campaigns."

Klotz emphasized, "The long-term reputational damage to the UAW from this scandal will be severe."

While commonly known as the United Auto Workers, the official name is the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America. It represents more than 400,000 active members in the U.S. and Canada who work in everything from casino gaming to beer production to higher education.

Despite a diverse membership, the UAW is known for its autoworkers.

Drunken drivers and puppies

In addition to the UAW, the tax-exempt, nonprofit Center for Union Facts has targeted unions that represent teachers and workers employed in home care, nursing homes, hospitality, food service, manufacturing and laundry.

The organization, founded in 2006 by lobbyist Richard Berman, has run ads in Michigan, Montana, Oregon and Nevada attacking public employee unions, according to The Oregonian of Portland. The group spent big money to fend off the recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker during his union battles in 2012.

The group's website, which also includes activist tracking of celebrities including Alec Baldwin, Barbra Streisand and Betty White, is focused on curbing the influence of unions. Tax records show the group has raised millions and spent millions on national print and broadcast campaigns.

The UAW isn't the only target of Berman and Company.

The public affairs firm has created nonprofits that have challenged organizations including Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Humane Society of the United States and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, according to USA Today, the New York Times and the Baltimore Sun.

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Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-222-6512 orphoward@freepress.com.Follow her on Twitter@phoebesaid. Sign up for our autos newsletter.