Sunday, December 07, 2008
Support labor—call Bank of America and tell them what you think of cutting off worker’s pay
by Larry Geller
You have probably seen the story: Republic Windows employees, fired without notice, are occupying the plant and demanding severance and vacation pay.
President-elect Obama even said that workers should get their pay.
It appears that whether they receive their pay or not depends on Bank of America, which refused to give payroll money to the company.
You can help pressure BOA to do the right thing, if you agree with the workers. See my suggestion, below.
Here’s a video. You are there. It’s a bit boring, but you can move the slider to a middlish position to skip some.
Ok, what to do? If you care to support the workers, an easy thing to do is to call Bank of America. Especially if you happen to have one of their credit cards. They issue a wide variety, for example, 
this University of Hawaii student card or alumni cards. Are you a student or an alumni? Hey, get on the phone with them. Say something. You can threaten to cancel if you like, or say whatever you think is right. Just let them know you are a customer if you are.
If you’re not reading this from Hawaii, other university cards that they offer can be found here.
Or maybe you have a Hawaiian Airlines card. Yup, that’s also Bank of America (they’re everywhere!). So you have clout. Call them please.
Are you a doctor or medical student with one of these cards? Please call. An architect (American Institute of Architects)? You too. More: American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Bar Association.
Here’s how to reach them:
Bank of America
100 N. Tryon St.
Bank of America Corporate Center
Charlotte, NC 28255
Phone: 704-386-5681
Fax: 704-386-6699
Even if you don’t have an account or card with them, how about a phone call on Monday? Why do you have a long-distance plan on your cellphone anyway? Please put it to good use. C’mon, you can do it. It makes a difference.
You can ask for their public relations department. Enough calls and they’ll be able to figure out they better advise their management to do the right thing.
Larry, thanks for the great solidarity idea.
It's important to note that UE is one of the last real rank-and-file-powered unions. Because of this, they are prepared to engage in a much more militant style of struggle. And look - they are galvanizing working people - and shifting the terms of debate - everywhere by taking direct action.
The sit-down strikes of the old days of the labor movement are back, along with an unflinching analysis of class solidarity.
Go UE!
I posted a version of this over on the DailyKos, where it has accumulated a respectable number of comments for this late time of night over on the Continent.
Most were supportive of Bank of America. I don't know all the facts, of course, and it could be that they are not at fault. So I have to take some responsibility and say that I neglected to write in my article that it doesn't matter if they are the bad guys or not--they are the only ones with the means to get the workers paid. They also certainly have some clout in the situation. They could intervene.
By suggesting that readers call, I am hoping that enough calls might motivate them to do something, the right thing, for the workers.
Meanwhile, I'm happy to have a credit union account, and were it not for their rather poor ATM network, I wouldn't have anything to do with actual banks unless I absolutely needed to.
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