Bank of America Board Must Remove Lewis at Its Board Meeting Wednesday

NEW YORK--The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) calls on the board of Bank of America (BofA) to oust CEO Ken Lewis in light of recent reports in the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal that Lewis's Bank of America approved of the decision to pay $4 billion in bonuses to Merrill Lynch executives after accepting $25 billion in taxpayer-financed bailout money. Lewis's Bank of America sanctioned the December bonuses even though Merrill Lynch's growing losses threatened BofA's takeover of the firm.

Bank of America took taxpayer money and allowed Merrill Lynch to hand out bonuses to executives at the same time it was preparing pink slips for 35,000 employees," said SEIU President Andy Stern.

"It's time to start enforcing some basic standards for corporate behavior. Ken Lewis has failed Bank of America and he has failed taxpayers - and the Bank of America board should remove him."

The Bank of America board is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, January 28, in Charlotte, NC.

Last year, Bank of America's Lewis sought money from taxpayers to buy failing Merrill Lynch. Reports indicate that while Lewis was seeking a handout from the government, top executives from Bank of America had a hand in the Merrill Lynch bonuses.

In 2008, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch together received $25 billion in taxpayer money, and just this month Ken Lewis wrested another $20 billion in cash for his bank.[i] But instead of helping to revitalize the U.S. economy, Bank of America okayed big corporate bonuses, cut credit to consumers and small businesses, announced plans to lay off 35,000 employees, and continues to displace families by foreclosing more homes. At the same time, Bank of America has taken even more taxpayer money from cash-strapped states by not paying for workers' healthcare, forcing them to depend on publicly-funded Medicaid services.

Bank of America's purchase of Merrill Lynch is part of a pattern of problematic mergers: its subsidiary Countrywide was at the epicenter of the subprime mortgage crisis; its subsidiary MBNA makes Bank of America the largest credit card company in the country and has often brought criticism for aggressive fees and interest rates for consumers; and mergers since 2004 have led to more than 34,000 layoffs throughout the country.

SEIU is calling on Bank of America to:

• Remove Ken Lewis as CEO
• Create two new Board seats for an independent taxpayer Director and a front-line employee Director
• Cease all bonuses for executives until taxpayers are paid back
• Use its taxpayer-funded windfall to provide health care for its 247,000 workers.
• Implement strong whistleblower protections for any worker who reports abusive lending or banking practices.

Tellers Make Change

This month, SEIU launched an informational campaign to highlight the misuse of taxpayer funds by Bank of America and has held public actions at Bank of America and Merrill Lynch locations in Boston, New York, Charlotte, NC, and Los Angeles.

This week SEIU is mobilizing thousands of online activists to call for Lewis' ouster and to hold informational meetings with Bank of America tellers and customers. Employees and customers will be encouraged to share their experiences with Bank of America online and with lawmakers.

"

###