Uncategorized

Putting Working Families First, Make Wall Street Pay

handshake-shareholders.jpg

WHEREAS, the economic crisis that began in 2008 continues to destroy the jobs, homes, and living conditions of millions of American workers, and

WHEREAS, the economic crisis was generated by a financial crisis whose origins can be found in the reckless profit-at-any-cost policies of the major Wall Street banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions, and

WHEREAS, Wall Street profits and executive compensation are back to pre-crisis levels, while millions of Americans remain jobless and are losing their homes, and millions more are seeing their wages and benefits reduced, and

WHEREAS, the Wall Street induced financial crisis has led to the deterioration of the funding status of workers’ pension funds in both the public and private sectors, and put the promised retirement security of millions of workers at risk, and

WHEREAS, not a single person directly responsible for the financial crisis has been prosecuted by any law enforcement agency, and

WHEREAS, not a single worker, pension fund, or home owner, has received a government “bailout,” while the government spent trillions bailing out Wall Street financial institutions, and

WHEREAS, the Congressional Financial Reform package is too weak and does not truly change the rules of the Wall Street casino, and

WHEREAS both the Democratic Congress and the new Republican Congress have refused to offer a helping hand to our pension funds, despite a massive Teamster lobbying and mobilization campaign,

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, that the Teamsters Union unite with its allies in the labor movement and the community to make Wall Street pay for the financial crisis by demanding: