With the New York Stock Exchange as the backdrop, a collection of labor leaders and more than 300 workers converged in the Wall Street area this afternoon to condemn the Bush administration’s proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial system — at the very moment that Congressional leaders agreed on the broad outlines of the economic rescue package.þThe lunchtime rally, coming as lawmakers in Washington were furiously working to come to a final agreement on the bailout plan, offered strong language urging the administration to remember the concerns of average working Americans.þ“Our country is facing the biggest financial disaster since the Great Depression,” said John J. Sweeney, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.þ“But working people have been living this crisis with lost jobs, stagnant wages, crumbling schools and roads and dwindling hopes for our children and eroding health care and disappearing pensions,” Mr. Sweeney said.þ“Now the Bush administration wants us to pay the freight for a Wall Street bailout that does not even begin to address the roots of our crisis,” he added. “We want our tax dollars used to provide a hand up for the millions of working people who live on Main Street and not a hand out to the privileged band of overpaid executives on Wall Street.”þMost of the speakers at the rally, which was hastily organized by the New York City Central Labor Council, called on Congress to provide what they called responsible oversight of any bailout plan that is enacted.þ“We can’t afford any more mistakes from this administration,” Mr. Sweeney said. “We want an independent panel created to decide how the money is spent. We want real tough new regulations to make sure this never happens again.”þAbout a dozen labor leaders spoke, including Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Lillian Roberts, president of District Council 37, New York’s largest municipal workers’ union. Also, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson stood among the labor leaders.þNo politicians spoke at the rally. But there was a strongly politically partisan tone to the event. Amid the signs carrying such messages as “Bail Out Main Street, Not Wall Street” and “No Blank Checks for Wall Street,” there were other placards, saying “McCain: Fundamentally Wrong.” And there were Obama buttons worn by many of the union members who attended.þIndeed, the very mention of Senator Barack Obama’s name drew wild ovations from the clearly partisan crowd. And the most heated words were directed at President Bush and Mr. Obama’s Republican rival, Senator John McCain.þ“Main Street is being rocked by Wall Street, Bush, McCain and their corporate cronies,” said Ms. Roberts, the head of the municipal workers’ union. “We’re here to tell Congress that this bailout must not become a handout to the very folks who got us into this mess in the first place.”þ“The people who need Washington’s help the most are the working people of this city and country,” she said. “Our message to Congress is: no bailout.”þSome of the strongest language came from James Conigliaro, a senior official of District 15 of the International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers.þ“I want to know when these C.E.O.’s and managers’ salaries are going to be cut,” Mr. Conigliaro said in an address peppered with obscenities.þ“Of course, McCain says he’s going to come in and rescue this — him and Palin,” he added, with his mention of the presidential and vice presidential candidates’ names being greeted with a roar of boos.þ“What I can’t understand is that they can’t give seniors drugs, but they can find trillions of dollars for C.E.O.’s,” Mr. Conigliaro said. “We can’t take this anymore. Tell Congress and the Senate that if they don’t negotiate a good deal for us, we should kick them out.”þIn an interview after the rally, Mr. Jackson stressed that some form of relief was critical for the nation and beyond. But he said that any agreement reached between the Bush administration and Congress should affect far more than just the financial firms.þ“With globalized banking, our collapse affects the whole world,” he said.þ“When banks collapse, plants close, workers lose, children and cities lose. But any deal that bails out bankers but does not bail workers and families and children is not a bailout, but a sellout. And that’s far too limited for the scope that we really need.” þMs. Weingarten echoed the central theme that the organizers sought to convey. “We want a responsible rescue, not an opportunistic bailout,” she said. “And that means, like every single boss that says to me there should be accountability for the teachers, there should be accountability for Wall Street.”þShe added, “They want checks and balances on us, they need checks and balances on them. This is about a responsible rescue with real oversight, and real mainstream protections so that working people can have a shot at the middle class.”þShe then shouted a refrain that was picked up by the crowd: “Responsible rescue, yes. Wall Street bailout, no.”þBertha Lewis, executive director of the community organizing group New York Acorn, offered perhaps the most strongly-worded condemnation. She criticized the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben S. Bernanke, and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr.., saying that the two men seemed “shocked” by the financial crisis.þBut, Ms. Lewis, said, “This is not a surprise.”þThen she said: “Well you know what? If they don’t give us the kind of deal that we deserve and if they don’t give us a bailout for Main Street and not just Wall Street, they’re going to be shocked when we shut this country down. We’re tired.” þ
Source: NY Times
