Did Opponents of Employee Free Choice Break the Law?
Last year, major opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act took part in a conference call, organized by a giant banking institution that was set to receive taxpayer bailout funds, in which they insisted that CEOs and industry contribute to anti-Employee Free Choice Act candidates for public office. That violates the law, says a complaint filed this morning by the AFL-CIO and Change to Win.
The complaint against the Center for Union Facts and the Marcus Foundation alleges that their leaders, Richard Berman and Bernie Marcus, took part in the call organized by Bank of America last year. Marcus and Berman were organizing corporate donors to fight the Employee Free Choice Act and solicited donations to Berman’s organization and to specific candidates hoping to influence the election and prevent passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would protect workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain.
Were Bailout Funds Used to Plot Against Employee Free Choice?
This week, we learned that shortly after the approval of billions in bailout funding for major banks, at least two bailout recipients were involved in a conference call for lobbyists and Big Business figures plotting to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act.
Now, a coalition of five major government-reform groups is asking Congress to fulfill its duty of overseeing the bailout funds and making sure they aren’t being used for political purposes like fighting the freedom to form unions.
In a letter sent to Congress today, leaders of Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG, Change Congress, Democracy Matters and Public Campaign asked for an investigation into whether taxpayer dollars are being spent on political influence-peddling.
This story may be the tip of the iceberg. That’s why we’re calling for Congress to investigate whether Bank of America, AIG, or other recipients of billions in bailout money used taxpayer dollars to send “large contributions” to any political organizations.
Bailed-Out Bank Uses Taxpayer Cash to Fight Employee Free Choice
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When Congress entrusted billions of dollars to banks last fall, it wasn’t with the expectation our taxpayer money would be used to hustle for political campaign cash, spread disinformation and fight legislation aimed at improving the economy for everyone. Yet that’s exactly what Bank of America did last fall, coordinating CEOs and lobbyists to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act.
According to reporting by Sam Stein in The Huffington Post, within three days of being approved for $25 billion in taxpayers’ money, Bank of America officials hosted an Oct. 17 conference call with key corporate leaders to strategize about the upcoming election and how to fight the Employee Free Choice Act in the next Congress. Stein obtained audio of the call, led by mega-lobbyist Rick Berman and Bernie Marcus, founder and former CEO of Home Depot. The call, which included major finance industry figures and representatives from big corporations (including AIG, itself a recipient of $85 billion in taxpayer-funded loans), featured apocalyptic rhetoric and demands that those on the call donate to anti-Employee Free Choice Act politicians. (Click here and check out the audio samples from the call.)
