UE members and allies today conducted protests across the country at 20 branch offices of banking giant Wells Fargo, from Boston to Los Angeles. Joined by members of other unions, Jobs with Justice and community organizations, members chanted, “You got bailed out, we got sold out!” and carried signs with that same message. The union charges that the bank, the recipient of a $25 billion bailout from taxpayers, is unfairly forcing the closure of a viable Illinois factory and has become a roadblock to economic recovery.
Wells Fargo cut off credit to Quad City Die Casting, a successful locally-owned factory in Moline, Illinois, and that as a result the plant will be forced to close on July 12, costing 100 jobs.
Workers and clergy from the Quad Cities area confronted Wells Fargo management at its Davenport, IA office and asked bank officials to accept “a plea for justice from the community.” Bank executives called the police, but this did not deter a five-person delegation from entering their building. The bank official they encountered refused to give her name, but accepted the letter handed her by C.J. Hawkins of Interfaith Worker Justice, and agreed to deliver it to the bank’s regional president.
In Chicago some 75 protestors from several unions and community groups cordoned off the parking lot of a Wells Fargo branch with crime scene tape, charging the bank with “jobicide” and “homeicide.” They chanted, “Wells Fargo, this sucks. Where’s our 25 billion bucks?”
Over the past several days in Washington, DC, a UE lobbying team has visited over 100 congressional offices, including every member of both the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee. The members of Congress were given information on the injustice being perpetrated by Wells Fargo, and asked to intervene.
Wells Fargo is also under fire for targeting African American borrowers for high-rate sub-prime mortgages in Baltimore, where city officials have sued the bank, and for attempting to force the liquidation of men’s suit maker Hartmarx, an outcome that would destroy jobs of some 4,000 employees.
Speaking at the protest in Davenport, UE Director of Organization Bob Kingsley said, “We can’t let this giant bank default on its obligation to the American people and the people of the Quad Cities. Wells Fargo is a roadblock to economic recovery.”