Trade union activists gave investment firm Charles Schwab shareholder’s meeting an earful last week in San Francisco, demanding that the company withdraw its support for the unpopular Bush/Republican Party Social Security privatization plan.
Schwab is part of a coalition of finance and investment companies that expect to benefit from the privatization plan that turns trillions in workers’ earnings over to them for private investment and brokerage fees.
Several shareholders at the meeting came directly from a rally sponsored by the AFL-CIO, the San Francisco Labor Council, the California Teachers Association, several union locals, community organizations, and non-profits groups.
According to one report, rally participants wore masks of CEO Charles Schwab and held signs saying “Double Talk Chuck,” mocking the company’s current ad campaign to “Talk to Chuck.” Clients and investors called on the company to withdraw from corporate coalitions and groups that are actively promoting plans by President Bush and California Governor Schwarzenegger to slash guaranteed retirement benefits for millions of workers.
The shareholder discussion was dominated by Schwab clients and shareholders who oppose the privatization plan and called for the company back off its support for Bush’s plan.
Twenty-six percent of shareholders withheld their support from the Schwab board, including the chairman, Charles “Chuck” Schwab. This was one of the highest votes to withhold support for directors in this year’s proxy season. Another resolution calling for annual elections of directors, seen as a blow to those who control the company, passed by a sizeable majority.
This particular action by trade unionists and their supporters is part of a larger campaign led by the AFL-CIO, the 13 million member umbrella organization of labor unions, targeting companies that have joined coalitions comprised of large corporations who support the privatization plan. Two ironically named big business coalitions of Bush’s supporters are the Alliance for Worker Retirement Security (AWRS) and Coalition for the Modernization and Protection of America’s Social Security (COMPASS).
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The Securities Industry Association, an organization of investment banks and brokerage firms that would receive and estimated $900 billion immediate windfall if Bush’s plan were adopted, has pledged upwards of $70 million in support for Bush’s plan.
Investment companies have also provided enormous amounts of cash to right wing and Republican-controlled think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, the Club for Growth and the Cato Institute to develop ways to soft-pedal and spin the privatization scheme.
A report (in pdf format) documenting Wall Street’s collusion with right-wing think tanks can be found by clicking here. An html version of the report can be found here.
Despite this cash cow and a $2.3 million taxpayer-funded publicity blitz of phony town hall meetings and fake news reports put together earlier this year by the Bush administration, opposition to the Republican privatization plan has grown from just over half of Americans to about two-thirds.
Other helpful websites for following this campaign can be found here: www.schwabgreed.org for updates on the campaign, and for more information look at www.wallstreetgreed.org.
--Reach Martha Kramer at pa-letters@politicalaffairs.net.
