Workers and Community Groups to Take Action in Dozens of Cities to
Demand Recovery for Main Street

Washington, DC-- On the eve of the G-20 summit and just one year after the financial world collapsed, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) released a report today detailing the severe impact the economic crisis has had on working families. According to the report, once all crisis-related programs are factored in, taxpayers could be on the hook for up to $17.8 trillion to rescue the big banks.

We now understand that the actions of a small group of greedy CEOs and Wall Street investors can wreak havoc on the global economy, yet we still haven't taken the necessary steps to prevent a future crisis," said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger at a briefing to release the report. "We bailed out the ailing banks in order to resuscitate the larger economy and get money flowing back to Main Street. The banks took us for trillions, they're back to business as usual, and the rest of America is still struggling to get by."

According to the report, taxpayers have already committed $4.7 trillion to the financial sector over the last year, only $700 billion of that was through the TARP program. On top of that, the bank-induced economic crisis has cost American families $11 trillion in wealth in 2008 and Americans have lost $6.1 trillion in homeowner wealth since June 2006. (Read the entire report here)

Meanwhile, the nation's top six banks paid out $31.2 billion in bonuses this past winter, and in the first half of 2009 alone, they set aside another $74.4 billion for bonuses and compensation. That amount alone would solve the budget shortfalls in 15 states, including California.

"The G-20 and Congress need to take action to stop banks from continuing business as usual--making billions off the backs of taxpayers--and ensure that a global financial crisis of this magnitude never happens again," said Burger.

To help Main Street recover, banks must:

• Stop foreclosures and save Americans' homes and state and local budgets;
  
• Provide the same affordable loans to state and local governments that banks receive from the federal government;
  
• Restore small business lending to save jobs and tax revnure; and
  
• Lower interest rates on consumer credit cards and stop charging abusive overdraft fees that take billions out of consumers' pockets.

With big banks continuing to stand in the way of a real economic recovery for America and the world, taxpayers have planned a number of demonstrations across the country leading up to and during the October American Bankers Association meeting in Chicago.

At noon tomorrow, outside a secret meeting of the Financial Services Roundtable at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C., workers and community groups will kick off a month of actions in more than two dozen cities across the country. On October 2, hundreds of clergy, students, and workers will gather in the banking hub of Charlotte to demand action on abusive banks and credit card fees. Other actions are planned in Boston, Chicago, Portland, Eugene, Philadelphia, Detroit, Columbus, Ithaca and more than 20 other cities. And tens of thousands of Americans will converge in Chicago in late October to take their demands directly to the big banks at their annual meeting.

Contact SEIU for specific event details. Click here to view the entire report.

# # #

The Service Employees International Union is an organization of 2.1 million members united by the belief in the dignity and worth of workers and the services they provide. SEIU is dedicated to improving the lives of workers and their families and creating a more just and humane society."

###