Oct 9, 2008 12:15 PM
I saw the weary farmer
plowing sod and loam
I heard the auction hammer
just a-knocking down his homeBut the banks are made of marble
with a guard at every door
and the vaults are stuffed with silver
that the farmer sweated for
I’ve seen the weary miner
scrubbing coal dust from his back
I heard his children cryin’
“Got no coal to heat the shack”
I’ve seen my brothers working
throughout this mighty land
I prayed we’d get together
and together make a stand
Then we’ll own those banks of marble
with no guard at every door
and we’ll share those vaults of silver
that we have sweated for.— Les Rice
[From “Banks of Marble,” 1949]
Hundreds of union workers rallied on Sept. 25 across from the New York Stock Exchange to call for fairness in any bailout plan for the country’s banks.
The workers at the emergency mobilization called by the New York City Central Labor Council carried homemade signs denouncing the bailout plan proposed by President Bush that read: “Protect Our Homes”; “No Blank Checks for Wall Street”; “McCain — Fundamentally Wrong”; “Repeal Bush Tax Cuts”; and “No Free Rides 4 the Banks.”
AFT/UFT President Randi Weingarten, one of the rally speakers, recalled “a cold frigid day last January when we were standing in the same exact spot asking for relief for people losing their homes and Wall Street said no.”
She went on, “We asked for a progressive income tax so workers could get a decent shot and Wall Street said no.”
Weingarten told the crowd, “We want a responsible rescue, not an opportunistic bailout.”
Noting how teachers are told that they must be held accountable, she said, “We want accountability for Wall Street.”
She called for “checks and balances” on Wall Street as well as “real oversight” of any bailout plan.
Weingarten then led a chant: “Responsible rescue, Yes; Wall Street bailout, No.”
Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress, said that CUNY has lost 5,000 professors. “This is a man-made crisis, not a natural disaster,” she said. “Why aren’t public education and health care too big to fail?”
Also speaking at the rally was AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who told the workers, “You are living proof of the spirit and strength of the American labor movement right here in New York City.” Sweeney said the recent financial crisis is not new and that the country has crumbling schools and roads and has lost jobs, and workers have seen eroding health care and disappearing pensions. Sweeney said the bailout ignores the real problems of working families.
Jim Conigliaro, the directing business agent of District Lodge 15 of the International Machinists and Aerospace Union, reminded the crowd that when Congress rescued the airlines after 9/11, “The workers got zero.” He said, “They took our pensions away and cut our salaries. We can’t take this any longer. Keep on fighting.”
The mood of the angry crowd was summed up in the chant, “Wall Street sucks,” that rolled through the ranks.
The day before, Weingarten wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expressing her concerns about the economic bailout plan proposed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. She urged Congress to “take the time required to enact a plan that will work for Main Street, not just Wall Street.”
Instead of vesting sole authority for running the program in the hands of the treasury secretary, Weingarten called on Congress to create an independent board to administer the massive bailout program and make it accountable to the president, the Congress and the courts.
She also argued that taxpayers should not be left to foot the bill while being cut out of any gains. “If the bailout is successful and the distressed Wall Street firms become profitable, it should be American taxpayers, not financiers, who benefit from any profits,” she wrote.
Weingarten called for the final bailout package to protect homeowners from foreclosure and to bar any “golden parachutes” for the CEOs of these troubled companies.
The bailout plan eventually passed by Congress on Oct. 24 addressed some of the union’s concerns. It provides for tighter oversight of the program by two boards, and requires the government to do more to prevent home foreclosures. Lawmakers also restricted golden parachute retirement plans for some executives whose firms seek help, and included a provision allowing the government to recoup any losses after five years by assessing the financial industry. A change in bankruptcy laws to let judges modify first mortgages — advocated by Democrats — was dropped from the final bill.