06 Oct BCTGM Endorses Occupy Wall Street
Today, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) announced their official endorsement of the Occupy Wall Street movement for economic and political justice.
“We stand in solidarity with those protesting Wall Street’s greed. The consequences of this insidious wave of corporate greed – hundreds of communities pummeled; countless families devastated; the standard of living for workers sabotaged and our manufacturing capability strangled. These protests are sending a clear message to Wall Street – we need to rebuild America, not continue to line the wallets of big business and the corporate elite or the politicians who rode to power on their backs,” said BCTGM International President Frank Hurt.
The BCTGM supports the following points:
- Wall Street and corporate America must invest in America: Big corporations should invest some of the $2 trillion in cash they have on hand, and use it to create good jobs. And the banks themselves should be making credit more accessible to small businesses, instead of parking almost $1 trillion at the Federal Reserve.
- Stop foreclosures: Banks should write down the 14 million mortgages that are underwater and stop the more than 10 million pending foreclosures to stop the downward spiral of our housing markets and inject more than $70 billion into our economy.
- Fund education and jobs by taxing financial speculation: A tiny tax on financial transactions could raise hundreds of billions in revenue that could fund education and create jobs rebuilding our country. And it would discourage speculation and encourage long term investment.