A mailer criticizes Kay Hagan's ties to major unions.

The Employee Freedom Action Committee, an anti-union advocacy group, sent a mailer to North Carolina voters noting that the Democratic Senate candidate "has taken more than $175,000 from Big Labor Bosses."

"Big labor bosses have a history of corruption and sexual discrimination," the mailer says, "and Kay Hagan supports their radical agenda."

The group is particularly concerned with a card check bill that Hagan supports that would make it easier to unionize by signing cards instead of through a secret-ballot election.

It has previously run a full-page ad in the N&O.

Hagan has received donations from the National Eductaion Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the Communications Workers of America, the International Association of Fire Fighters, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Teamsters, among other unions.

An anti-union group is spending big money attacking Kay Hagan. 

The Employee Freedom Action Committee is spending $1 million on online ads and mailings that criticize Hagan, according to spokesman Tim Miller. It also ran a full-page ad in the N&O on Sept. 30.

The group is attacking her support for legislation that would make it easier for unions to organize. It's also spending $2 million for a TV ad featuring former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern criticizing the legislation, Jim Morrill reports.

The ad is running in North Carolina and a half-dozen other states.

The committee is affiliated with The Center for Union Facts. It opposes the legislation, which would allow workers to unionize by signing cards instead of through a secret-ballot election.

"Kay supports it as a way to level the playing field for working families," said Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan. "This bill simply allows the workers, not the employers, to decide which method to use, and stiffens penalties for intimidation."