Investor Kicked Out, WellPoint Refuses Further Disclosure of Toxic Political Spending
BofA Dealt Punches from 99%, Shareholders Tell their Side
Faith Leaders Criticize GE, Global 1% in Direct Action
Banks Versus America, Eyes Turn to Corporate Responsibility
This is turning into a very different kind of shareholder season, one that is every bit as much about civic concerns as it is about the price of any stock, as investors have been denied admission to their own annual meetings amid concerns over surrounding protests.
That is the opening paragraph from Fortune. A stark reality for corporations as the growing discontent from activists has moved into the boardroom. Progressive activists around the country will probably smile at the lede believing times are beginning to change.
Bank of America’s shareholders meeting starts at 10 am eastern and the eyes of activists and financial gurus will focus on the outcome. Wells Fargo denied proxy shareholders entrance into their annual meeting two weeks ago. Many believe the same might happen here in Charlotte with roughly 1,000 protesters expected. Four marches will converge near the meeting’s site. Protesters will even hold a boxing match – Bank vs. America.
Yet, Charlotte’s City Manager Curt Walton declared the meeting an “extraordinary event” meaning the police have enhanced rights of arrest. Yup, a city manager (not the democratically elected mayor) did this to protect a corporation from citizens using their First Amendment rights.
Lisa Gilbert, Deputy Director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division, believes the meeting has a potentially large impact on corporation’s political spending.
Tomorrow, shareholders at Bank of America’s annual meeting will vote on a similar resolution that would halt political spending by the bank. That means no contributions to Super PACs. No involvement in the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). No pouring money into the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which then buys attack ads in swing states.
Gilbert backs up the need for such a resolution with some handy facts.
Between 2002 and 2010, Bank of America contributed approximately $6.7 million in corporate money to political activity. The bank’s political action committee has been one of the top five contributors among commercial banks to federal candidates every year for the past decade, giving approximately $12.6 million. What’s more, the bank paid nothing in federal taxes in 2009 and 2010, but got almost a billion dollars back from taxpayers.
This type of political spending amounts to a quid pro quo and should be banned in a democracy. Businesses see these types of expenditures as an investment. One that has unprecedented rates of return. But it all comes at the cost of the public good. Our schools suffer, our infrastructure deteriorates, and our states go bankrupt. No wonder why people are getting pissed and taking their anger to the shareholder meetings.
Housekeepers Get Boost From OSHA in Fight Against Hyatt
Hotel housekeepers won a big battle this week in their ongoing struggle against Hyatt’s abusive practices. OSHA completed a year-long investigation that followed a complaint filed on behalf of 3,500 workers from eight different cities. The on the job injuries suffered by housekeepers was found to be severe enough for OSHA to issue its first ever Hazard Alert Letter in the hotel industry.
“For years, we have asked Hyatt to make simple changes that would ease the toll on our bodies,” said Maria Soto in a press release. Soto works as a housekeeper at the Grand Hyatt in San Antonio and has been injured cleaning rooms. “Now our voices are being heard, and the federal government is joining us in calling on Hyatt to make our jobs safer.”
The American Journal of Industrial Medicine examined 50 hotel properties from five different companies in 2010. It found Hyatt housekeepers had the highest rate of injuries compared to the four other companies. OSHA’s letter to the company seems to back up the study and the agency recommended the hotel chain implement a series of changes to their housekeeping policies. For years Hyatt housekeepers went without long-handled mops and had to clean the bathrooms on their hands and knees. Many of the Hyatt locations were recently renovated resulting in heavier mattresses and thus more straining for the workers. OSHA recommended Hyatt use fitted sheets in order to lessen the likelihood of harming one’s back.
“Two years ago, the Hyatt Regency renovated the hotel and brought in larger, heavier beds. It makes my job much more difficult. I can’t lift the mattress because my left arm feels like it’s coming out of socket. We are hard-working women, not machines,” said Angela Martinez, a Hyatt housekeeper with 23 years experience. Martinez made this comment to me last fall during a week-long strike at the downtown hotel.
In some complaints housekeepers tell of workdays consisting of 30 rooms to clean. That leaves just 15 minutes to fully clean a hotel room before the next guest arrives. I am currently in the midst of doing a decent amount to traveling and staying at hotels. This would not be the type of place I’d want to stay. I want a clean room and if that means spending more for the tools and time that the housekeeper needs then please do so.
Hyatt does not seem to care about the actual cleanliness for its guests. It just wants the appearance while caring more about the company’s bottom line. The hotel chain has pushed back against the study mentioned above and the complaints of its workers by stating. “The close association of housekeeping with routine life also raises difficult questions about causation. One’s injury is at least as likely to have occurred during non-work activities like sports, dancing or performing routine chores in one’s home.”
Martinez had this to say in regards to the OSHA action:
“We have asked again and again for Hyatt to ease our pain and to stop treating us like we are machines. We are still asked to clean the bathroom floors on our hands and knees. Now we’re so happy to hear that the government is standing with us and sending a message to Hyatt.”
Sounds spot on to me. In the meantime I will avoid Hyatt Hotels and encourage you to do the same.
A More Educated and Older Low-Wage Nation
Reading the site often enough should give you the impression that I care about workers, their rights, and wages. People should be paid well for the services they provide to their employer. Sadly, that is just not happening here in the United States.
According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research the United States ranks first in its share of low-wage employees. A true testament to our transition of becoming a service economy. Nearly a full quarter of all workers earn less than two-thirds of the median income. The United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland and Germany all sit closely together but trail us by more than four percentage points.
John Schmitt of CEPR notes that our minimum wage is too low and doesn’t push up wages in general.
“In France in the mid-2000s, for example, the minimum wage was set near the country’s low-wage threshold and that country had among the lowest levels of low-wage work in the OECD.”
The other problem comes from the global race to the bottom. We simply moved good paying jobs out of the country in exchange for cheaper goods.
The result means too many people earning poverty wages even in a full-time job. The federal minimum wage sits at $7.25 while even a position paying $10 an hour would only mean $20,000 a year. Meanwhile that low-wage portion of our workforce keeps getting older. Yes, older and more educated.
Maybe you thought low-wage jobs were for part-time workers, teenagers, and for the lazy. You would be wrong.
In 1979, more than a quarter of low-wage workers were teenagers. By 2011, it was cut by more than half, down to 12 percent. The only other age group that lost even a tiny a share of low-wage workers in those years was people 65 and over, who went from 4.6 percent of the low-wage workforce to 4.2 percent. Every other group—meaning people in their prime working years—grew as a percentage of the low-wage workforce. People ages 35 to 64, in particular, shot from 30.8 percent to 38.1 percent of workers earning $10 an hour or less.
Ten percent of those earning ten bucks or less also have a college degree. Good luck paying off the student loans with that gig.
Now tell me that this doesn’t matter. It incredibly personal to millions of hard working Americans and it is knocking on your door too.
Bedbugs to Harris Bank, Property Manager
This past week my partner and I had to deal with possible bedbug problem. We discovered a few bites that resembled the one’s left by bedbugs – after a long day of an unscheduled spring cleaning we felt better. But the stress and anxiety certainly took a toll on both of us.
For those that visit or see us face-to-face – we do not have bedbugs and our apartment is really clean now!!
The whole thing started after I visited a few residents of an Austin neighborhood apartment complex. A local community organization brought the occupants together to force the company fix the deplorable conditions of the building. They include bedbugs, rats, cockroaches, weak flooring and only a few other complaints. One resident collected some of the bedbugs they must deal with and threatened to send the bottle to the property manager and the bank that is in the process of foreclosing on the building. No one wants to be held responsible for the conditions and thus no one will uphold their legally obligated duties to take care of the place.
The residents, many of whom recently moved in under false promises, already struggle to make ends meet. Austin, on the west side of Chicago, is already a poor neighborhood and anyone who has moved can attest to the fact that it is a costly venture – in both time and money.
Janelle Teague, a new resident, says she was not told of any of these potential problems. Weak spots in her hardwood floor were painted over. A spot just at her front door feels like I might fall right through when I place a little of my body weight on it. The picture below shows an out of order sign taped to the floor. Yes, the floor is apparently out of order but not enough to have it fixed in a timely fashion.
“We will not go quietly into the night,” says Teague. “We will not go without a fight; I have six children and cannot allow them to live in such conditions, while the people who run Peak Properties and BMO/Harris Bank live in the lap of luxury.”
Pamela Johnson, another newer resident, claims the property manager promised changes before she moved in. On her move in date she found her apartment without a refrigerator and a adjacent apartment flooding because of stolen piping.
“I have to stay up at night to make sure the rats don’t come out of the walls and bite my kids,” said Johnson. The baseboards in her apartment do not reach the floor leaving a large enough gap for bugs and rats to come in at will.
Both BMO and Peak Properties did not return calls for comment. A four year resident, Danny Barnes, says neither company wants to pay for the fixes. Barnes says the problems have only grown worse in the last two years, as a result he collected the bedbugs in a bottle. He plans to collect more in order to send them to the BMO/Harris Bank, Peak Properties, and the property manager.
These residents have little to no way to find justice. Moving out is monetarily impossible for many and merely leaves the problem for future residents, the court system tends to be slow and even more costly. The only way for them to see a resolution comes through the power of organizing. With the residents on one side, a community organization in an assisting role, and public support can give them enough leverage to force the bank and the property manager into action.
Luckily for us, we won’t have to experience anything like that (unless a series of unfortunate events strikes us down the road). We have a privilege of a middle class family. If our situation became dire we could count on either one of our families for help. We would have the resources to move. We have access (and will in future apartments) to a landlord that cares about our living conditions.
The legal system is supposed to level out those types of privileges but it sadly finds itself overwhelmed in its caseload and dependent upon having money for proper representation.
Faith Leaders Criticize GE, Global 1% in Direct Action
A new front of activism seems to have taken hold in recent weeks. Grassroots organizations that traditionally advocate for legislative goals and hold newsworthy protests in front of tax dodging corporations. Lately, the organizations teamed up to confront the global one percent on their own turf: during the annual shareholder meetings.
Faith leaders took the frontline at General Electric and a couple other meetings that I had the opportunity to witness.
Pastor Kevin Johnson highlighted Detroit’s hypocrisy when it came to its decision to utilize the police force.
(more…)
More on May Day, It’s the Income Inequality
I appeared on RNNTV News last night at about the three minute mark. I hope I came off well. The segment features Emily Crockett from Campus Progress and Margot Paez from InsightOut News. The two reported from D.C. and Los Angeles while Richard French and Kim Lengle discuss the activity in New York.
I wanted to further some of thoughts I tried to portray on my brief appearance. Think Progress’ Annie-Rose Strasser posted from great charts yesterday that help visualize the point. Protesters carry signs with a multitude of messages. Anything from universal health care, taxing the rich, or ending corporate personhood. All of the issues though are part of a system designed to further harm the working and middle class Americans. This is a system bought and paid for by the rich. Lobbyists, campaign donations, and leverage are all investments for future gains. Everyday working people find themselves as expendable parts in the machine. One that strives for lower costs, efficiency and productivity. Yet, that productivity does not pay off for the workers. The Economic Policy Institute shows in the chart below the steady increase of productivity. Compensation remains nearly stagnant.
May Day! Protesters in the Streets
In grade school May Day consisted of a basket, some candy, and little humor. Sadly, that glossed over the history of International Worker’s Day and the struggle for workers’ rights in decades past. In 1886, demonstrators in Haymarket Square and police clashed leading to a bomb thrown by an unknown person and killing 11.
Occupy movements, unions, and activists utilized the holiday to spread their message around the country. Scores of people rallied and marched in New York City, D.C., Los Angeles and Chicago. The crowd in Chicago surpassed 1,200 at Union Park and slowly marched to Federal Plaza in the downtown area.
“Workers united, will never be defeated,” was chanted as the rain drizzled on the beginning stages of the marchers. But the largest contingent of the crowd came from the immigrant community that called for an amnesty program. Local unions members from Unite HERE, SEIU, ATU, and National Nurses United also came out in support.
The messages varied throughout the march: taxing the rich, disparaging Mayor Rahm Emanuel, amnesty for immigrants, stopping the attacks on unions, and health care. Critics point to the disparity in messaging, including a couple of older white men who lamented to each other that the protests seemed to be about everything.
It is the system itself that people are frustrated with and want to see changed. It is no longer working for the middle class and has never worked for those struggling below it.
People are angry, as evidenced by some of the chants: “hey Rahm Emanuel, take your cuts and go to hell.” Or “They say cut back, we say fight back.”
Something is bound to happen when people in positions of power continue to push citizens into a corner with serious budget cuts to vital programs. At this moment in time rallies, marches, and demonstrations pervade the movement. Occupations like Wall Street last fall or at the Woodlawn clinic just a couple weeks ago escalates the protests, yet remains a non-violent means of direct action.
Along the march a speaker summed up the message well, “We are asking for a dignified life. An opportunity to pursue it.”
An agenda by elected officials to cut their way out of debt further prevents that pursuit. Protesters typically call it austerity, a strict economy, which means defunding public assistance programs, transit, job programs, and further limits government spending. Think of it as choking yourself to death because that is what Greece is doing right now and what many officials want the United States to do now.
Abel, from Occupy Chicago, captured some elevated footage of the march. He stood in the flowerbeds at Willis Tower where security held and threatened him with arrest. They released him as members from the Lawyers Guild talked some sense into security.
What happened elsewhere? In Oakland there are reports of police using teargas to disperse a crowd. Thousands took part in New York. Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine fame, performed in Bryant Park and a wildcat strike took place in another part of the city.
Gregory, a doctoral student and graduate teaching assistant at SUNY Stony Brook College also came to use the wildcat strike as an opportunity to express himself in protest.
“I’m a union member, I’m a public employee of the state–and as a public employee, we are legally not allowed to strike. The wildcat strike provides a space for those of us who can’t strike for whatever reason to still express ourselves in protest.”
What did you see happen on May Day?
- RT @allisonkilkenny: ICYMI: New #CitizenRadio: Dispatches from #NATO Day 1: Badass nurses, preemptive arrests, press harassment http://t ...
- From @progressIL: Nurses Hold Massive Peaceful Rally In Center Of Chicago (VIDEO) http://t.co/31TGDWMw #p2 #IL
- RT @Care2Causes: The G8âs Responsibility to Tackle Child Hunger http://t.co/VMfOJnrc via @Care2
- RT @thinkprogress: Mark Zuckerberg is now worth over $19 billion. This is his plan to avoid U.S. taxes. http://t.co/tXkOCLyJ #icymi
- From @progressIL: Nurses Protest Focuses On âRobin Hoodâ Tax (VIDEO) http://t.co/NjOIIeu2 #p2 #IL
