Consumers Say Bye-Bye to Big Banks
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When Big Banks nickel and dime you with fees on just about everything from checking accounts to ATMs to debit cards, they turn those nickels and dimes into billions of profits.
On Saturday, consumers struck back with “Bank Transfer Day,” when they switched from behemoth banks like Bank of America (BofA), Chase and Citi to non-profit credit unions. But Saturday was just one day in what has been a steady stream of movement over the past month away from corporate banks.
It’s too early to tell how many made the switch on Saturday, but since Sept. 29, when BofA announced it would charge consumers a monthly fee for debit card purchases—that it dropped a few days ago, following public outrage—more than 650,000 people opened new accounts with credit unions, according to the Credit Union National Association. The group says its members attributed most of the upsurge to consumers fed up with bank fees and to the publicity Bank Transfer Day received.
Bank Transfer Day was the idea of 27-year-old Los Angeles art gallery owner Kristen Christian who, a month ago, started a Facebook page (now with nearly 60,000 likes) to promote the protest against Big Bank greed. She wrote:
Seattle Activists Demand Big Banks Pay Fair Share
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Nearly 100 union and community activists rallied outside a JP Morgan Chase bank branch in downtown Seattle yesterday demanding the state legislature make “Big Banks pay their fair share” by closing a $67 million tax loophole for out-of-state banks.
The rally came on the first day of a special legislative session to close a $2.8 billion budget shortfall that threatens cuts in schools, health care, public safety and other vital services. The House revenue package closes the bank loophole, but bank lobbyists are pressuring the state Senate to maintain the giveaway.
Al Link, Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) secretary-treasurer, says the banks fighting to keep the $67 million loophole open are showing the same greed as
the Wall Street banks that turned their backs on us after they took $700 billion of our money in taxpayer bailouts….Now, here in Washington State, these big banks want even more of our money.
Workers’ Stories Put Face on Victims of Wall Street Greed
One worker says she lost four jobs during the past seven years. Another saw his unemployment insurance (UI) benefits evaporate due to Sen. Jim Bunning’s (R-Ky.) callous filibuster of an UI extension last month.
Those are just two of the personal stories jobless workers and others have shared at the AFL-CIO’s Good Jobs Now site. Our interactive site is part of the AFL-CIO’s fight for good jobs that today kicked off two weeks of action across the country with rallies and demonstrations at branches of the Big Six Wall Street banks—Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia-Wells Fargo. (Find out about events in your area here.)
The Big Six’s reckless greed played the major role in wrecking the U.S. economy and killing American jobs. The workers sharing their stories have seen firsthand the damage left behind.
Join Us and Make Wall Street Pay
Starting today, the union movement and our allies are taking our fight for good jobs now to the biggest Wall Street banks whose reckless greed has gone a long way to wreck the U.S. economy and kill American jobs.
From March 15-26, working people will hold rallies and demonstrations at branches of the Big Six Wall Street banks—Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia-Wells Fargo—across the country. They will tell the banks: “I Am Not Your ATM” and “Make Wall Street Pay for Creating New Jobs.”
You also can tell Wall Street executives to pay to create good jobs by sending a letter urging them to do the right thing. Just click here.
Find out about events in your area here. If you take part in an event, be sure to send us your photo or video here.
Get Set for March Actions to Make Wall Street Pay
The union movement and our allies are taking our fight for good jobs now to the biggest Wall Street banks whose reckless greed has gone a long way to wreck the U.S. economy and kill American jobs.
From March 15-26, working people will hold rallies and demonstrations at branches of the Big Six Wall Street banks—Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia-Wells Fargo—across the country. They will tell the banks “We Are Not Your ATMs” and “Make Wall Street Pay for Creating New Jobs.”
You also can tell Wall Street executives to pay to create good jobs by sending a letter urging them to do the right thing. Just click here.
Find out about events in your area here. If you take part in an event, be sure to send us your photo or video here.
