DC JwJ's "Talkin' Justice": Rally To Protest Bailout-Bandits
Wednesday, September 23, 2009(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
One year after the government bailed out Wall Street, activists
plan to protest a meeting of the Financial Services Roundtable Thursday in
Washington. DC Jobs with Justice, unions and consumer protection groups are
organizing a demonstration tomorrow
at noon outside the meeting of the Roundtable -- a group of 90 finance
and insurance companies -- to demand accountability for the bailout money, a
halt to anti-worker and anti-consumer lobbying, and to demand real economic
recovery for working families. Member companies of the Roundtable, including
Wells Fargo, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of America, have received an
estimated $213.8 billion in taxpayer funds as a part of the bail-out. At the
same time, they’ve spent $43.9 million on lobbying, including opposing
accountability for bailout recipients, solutions to the housing crisis, basic
consumer protections, and the Employee Free Choice Act. Last winter, just weeks
after receiving $25 billion in bailout money, Bank of America refused credit to
Chicago’s Republic Windows and Doors factory, prompting a six-day occupation
by members of UE Local 260 to keep the plant open. “The bailouts have simply
preserved power for the privileged and concentrated money in the hands of the
few,” said Ruth Castel-Branco of DC Jobs with Justice. “Major banks continue
to pay outrageous salaries and bonuses while driving layoffs by refusing to
extend credit to viable companies. The bailouts are about saving the banks and
saving the bankers, while sticking it to ordinary people.” Ironically, the
Roundtable, whose members have opposed workers’ rights, is meeting at the
Mandarin Hotel in southwest DC, a strong union hotel organized through card
check. The action is part of the national Economic Recovery Week of Action,
organized by Jobs with Justice. Dozens of actions will take place across the
country between September 24th and October 1st to mark the one-year anniversary
of the bank bailouts. – Mackenzie Baris, DC Jobs with
Justice; photo: local activists protest outside AIG in downtown DC in
March; photo by Adam Wright