Bank of America Boycott

CTU to Boycott Bank of America?
By Jim Vail

I along with almost a thousand other people quickly signed onto the latest Chicago Teachers Union email blast to boycott the Bank of America for helping wreck havoc on the Chicago Public School system. "I pledge to Boycott Bank of America until they renegotiate toxic swaps that have cost Chicago Public Schools and the City of Chicago more than $1 billion. I also ask that Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, begin public hearings to investigate the tremendous financial damage caused by toxic swaps on Chicago and our schools." The CTU email further stated that Bank of America among others (how about JP Morgan - Chase?) manipulated the real estate market that caused the Federal Reserve to bring interest rates down to almost zero percent and then cities like Chicago lost millions having bet that interest rates would rise. The Bank of America "knew that the market was headed for a 'meltdown,' (but) the bank did not warn CPS, which is in violation of the federal fair dealing rule," the flyer reads. Chicago recently paid $200 million to terminate the "toxic" deals, about the same in cuts to school funding by the Emanuel administration, CTU further states. I have written before in favor of boycotting the banks. They are responsible for screwing the city and its children as the CTU points out. But this requires a coordinated effort in the delegates meetings and schools to encourage teachers to take their hard-earned cash out of Bank of America. If the CTU can organize a strike, it certainly can organize a bank boycott. But where should CTU members (almost 30,000) put their money? Into other too big to fail banks like Chase or Citibank who also negotiate toxic swaps with cities and screw the schools? The bigger question then is will the union actually consider this. Certainly this petition is a start. But it needs teeth to really work.  Obviously our bureacrats who run the city are in cahoots with big business to screw the people. It is up to us to stop them. Thanks to the CTU, the first step has been taken. But it is only the beginning!