Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Democrats had better stand and deliver for working men and women by passing the Employee Free Choice Act. Enough of this kowtowing to the white collar criminals of Wall Street. Check out this new ad from American Rights at Work:
UPDATED May 2, 2009: For the benefit and education of our "usual suspects" uninformed commentators who know not of what they speak, I will add these two articles which briefly touch upon what this ad and I are referencing in recent posts. Not that our "usual suspects" will read the articles or even care. Our well informed readership is already familiar with the subject, but for anyone who is not, these articles are a good place to begin your research to learn more. h/t Huffington Post
Bailout Recipients Hosted Call To Defeat Key Labor Bill
Three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the U.S. labor community's top legislative priority.
Participants on the October 17 call — including at least one representative from another bailout recipient, AIG — were urged to persuade their clients to send "large contributions" to groups working against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), as well as to vulnerable Senate Republicans, who could help block passage of the bill.
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"Bank of America is now not only getting bailout money. They are lending their name to participate in a campaign to stop workers from having a majority sign up [provision]," said Stephen Lerner, Director of the Private Equity Project at SEIU. "The biggest corporations who have created the problem are, at the very time, asking us to bail them out and then using that money to stop workers from improving their lives."
It's Not Just EFCA: Banks Spend TARP Funds on Anti-Consumer Lobbying
Bank of America's anti-worker crusade is only the tip of a much larger iceberg. As a recent report at Overruled reveals, the banking industry has continued a massive anti-consumer lobbying campaign, even as it took hundreds of billions of dollars in TARP funds to stave off insolvency.
TARP was enacted to ensure that credit markets would continue to operate and to prevent the collapse of America's financial industry. The industry, however, has chosen instead to spend a portion of its funds lobbying Congress on bills that would curb some of the banking industry's worst excesses. Among the bills which the banking industry lobbied on after it began receiving TARP funds are bills to prohibit abusive arbitration practices, such as the Arbitration Fairness Act, the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act and the Fair Contracts for Growers Act; bills to help foreclosure victims and prevent irresponsible mortgage lending, such as the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act and the Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act; bills to prevent the exploitation of credit card holders, such as the Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights and the Stop Unfair Practices in Credit Cards Act, and even bills to hold TARP recipients accountable for how they spend taxpayer funds, such as the TARP Reform and Accountability Act.
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Overruled The full report on the banking industry's post-TARP lobbying activities can be read here.