Bank Bailout Spent to Defeat Labor

Student Researcher: Rosemary Scott

Faculty Evaluator:  Kelly Bucy

On October 17^th 2008, just three days after Bank of America Corp. received $25 billion in federal bailout funds, they hosted a conference call aimed to organize opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The EFCA would potentially allow workers to form unions by holding a traditional election or by having a majority of employees sign written forms and is supported by President Obama and Senate Democrats. The participants of the conference call were mainly stock analysts or individuals with investment portfolios. Among the participants were Home Depot co-founder, Bernie Marcus, aggressive EFCA opponent, Rick Berman, and a representative from another federal bailout recipient, AIG. Callers were urged to send large contributions to groups and Seante Republicans working against the EFCA. Although Bank of America’s role in the conference call is a bit unclear, their effort to drum up support for defeating the labor-backed legislation has left a bad taste in the mouth of  some union officials and some good government groups are calling for an investigation as to whether bailout recipients used taxpayer money to benefit political candidates or organizations.

“Bailout Spent to Defeat Labor” Sam Stein, Huffington Post, January 27^th 2009 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/27/bank-of-america-hosted-an_n_161248.html

“Good Gov’t Group: Are Corporations Using Bailout Money To Fund Political Campaigns?” Sam Stein, Huffington Post, January 27^th 2009 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/28/good-govt-groups-are-corp_corp_n_161994.html