Trumka to Philadelphia, Shuler to Cleveland and San Diego, Holt Baker to Cincinnati

As union and community activists kick off 200 actions at the Big 6 Wall Street banks over the next two weeks, AFL-CIO officers will fan out across the country to join them in demanding "Good Jobs Now: Make Wall Street Pay."  AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka heads to Philadelphia Friday, Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler to Cleveland and San Diego next week and Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker to Cincinnati next week.  The three will stand with working people in making explicit demands of the six banks—Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo/Wachovia:  Stop refusing to pay your fair share to restore the jobs you destroyed, stop fighting financial reform and start lending to your communities, small businesses and others starved for credit. 

According to Richard Trumka, president of the 11.5 million-member AFL-CIO, "It's time to create good jobs now and the big Wall Street banks that destroyed jobs should pay to restore them."

Events over the two weeks range from rallies in New Jersey and marches in New Hampshire to parades in Missouri and even a hog calling contest in Pittsburgh. Yesterday protestors rallied outside Chase Bank at 2nd & Union in downtown Seattle and at the Maryland State Capitol.  Today in Madison, Wisc., community and labor activists will use street theater to condemn the destructive actions of big bank CEOs.  AFL-CIO officers will join events beginning later this week: 

          -  President Richard Trumka will travel to Philadelphia, Penn. on Friday, March 19th for a major protest of Bank of America at Paine Plaza in downtown Philadelphia.   

          -  Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler will participate in rallies at Morgan Stanley in Cleveland, Ohio on March 22nd and Wells Fargo/Wachovia in San Diego, Calif. on March 26th. 

          -  Executive Vice-President Arlene Holt-Baker will travel to Cincinnati, Ohio on March 24th for an event at Morgan Stanley.

Good Jobs Now: Make Wall Street Pay events call on the big Wall Street banks to pay for a major jobs plan to rebuild crumbling infrastructure and invest in green technology; increase aid to state and local governments to save critical services and jobs; increase funding for neglected communities to match people who need jobs with work that needs to be done; and use TARP money to get credit flowing to small businesses for job creation.  

Information on the activities is available at www.aflcio.org/createjobs - the AFL-CIO's online organizing hub for the jobs campaign. From the site, people can find events to attend, write letters to banks and read and submit job stories and photos.

In addition to these efforts, Working America, the 3 million-member community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, has kicked off a campaign called "I am not your ATM."  People across the country are submitting photos of themselves in front of ATMs, asking "where's my bailout?" and delivering the message to Wall Street:  "I am not your ATM." To see some of the photos collected so far, go to www.notyouratm.com.  Working America speaks to 25,000 people across the country every week about the creation of good jobs and holding Wall Street accountable.

Contact:  Josh Goldstein, Amaya Tune 202-637-5018