Saturday, March 12, 2011

Hit them where it hurts -- in the wallet

Various conservatives are declaring game over in the Wisconsin standoff with the signing of Walker's union busting bill, but they're dreaming. This was only the first skirmish. The unions have a billion dollar ace up their sleeve. That being the union funds that are currently invested with M&I Bank, the largest bank in the state and Walker's second biggest campaign contributor -- after the Koch brothers. Ironically these are mostly pension funds.

Workers have begun organizing a “Move Your Money Campaign” against M&I Bank...
"It’s good to remind these corporations that there are risks as well as profits involved in supporting right-wing political campaigns,” says Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “Unions must use their economic power to fight for labor rights."
And that's just in Wisconsin. In the aggregate, if everyone banded together:
With over $6 trillion of workers' money in retirement plans, pension funds, profit-sharing and stock plans and union reserve funds, workers have the ability to reshape the economy and political priorities of the economic elite.
Union money has in effect been supporting these banksters, who are in turn spending it to abrogate workers rights. That could, and should, change.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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