Financiers Charged With "Crimes Against Working Families"

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Found guilty of "crimes against working families," proxies for the financial industry were placed under citizens arrest yesterday by workers and community activists. Charging that the Financial Services Roundtable – a group of 90 companies in the finance and insurance industry meeting at the Mandarin Hotel - has spent $43.9 million on lobbying against health care reform, financial protections for working families and the Employee Free Choice Act, the activists held a mock trial of corporate executives to express public outrage. “These companies are holding a secret meeting today because they don’t want people to know the true extent of their shameful behavior,” said SEIU’s Steve Lerner. “We bailed them out, they took our money to enrich themselves and are now spending that money to campaign against hard working families.” Activists dressed in business suits and carrying briefcases stuffed with cash were placed under citizens arrest by the crowd. “They can’t run and they can’t hide,” said Communications Workers of America's Brooks Sunkett. “We’ll follow them all across America and we’ll be there until they are finally brought to justice.” The action was part of Jobs with Justice’s national week of action to “demand a real economic recovery for working people.”
– report/photos by Adam Wright