99 Percent Shareholder Spring

This spring, there were incredible demonstrations against corporate greed at shareholder meetings and corporate offices from coast to coast.

Fresh out of 99 Percent Spring training, workers, veterans, families facing foreclosure, retirees who lost their pensions, students and immigrants stood up to the CEOs and top executives of major American corporations in a series of coordinated actions across the country. Activists are holding the 1 percent responsible not only for the nation’s shaky economy, but for our broken democracy, which allows corporations to call all the shots. Here are some highlights:

Bank of America

CWA members joined 1,000 demonstrators in protesting at the annual Bank of America shareholders meeting. Billed by 99% Power as the “Showdown in Charlotte,” activists spotlighted the bank’s foreclosure and other predatory practices and its lack of corporate accountability. BoFA is not only the nation’s second largest bank but it’s profited more than any other financial institution from home foreclosures.

Wells Fargo

At the Well Fargo annual meeting in San Francisco, 500 people, including many CWAers, protested the bank’s predatory lending practices: actions that have dragged one in five home mortgages underwater and soaring foreclosure rates that have devastated families and communities. Forming human chains, protestors blocked entrances to the building and interrupted CEO John Stumpf's speech to shareholders at least four times.

AT&T

At the AT&T annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, shareholders heard a loud and clear message from members and retirees from CWA Local 7704 and other union supporters. Wearing “We are the 99 percent” and “Where’s The Fairness?” stickers, activists stood up for good jobs and fair contracts at AT&T.

“We all want AT&T to succeed,” CWA Telecommunications and Technologies Vice President Ralph Maly told shareholders. “CWA members and retirees certainly have a financial investment in AT&T’s success. We also have the investment of our livelihoods, our families’ well-being and our communities’ continued growth. These aren’t small things. These are the essence of what will sustain our country's economic recovery.”

Windstream

And about 75 CWA activists demonstrated at the Windstream annual meeting in Little Rock, Ark. Members of Locals 6507 and 6171 were on hand, with members of Locals 6171 and 6507 making a 12-hour round trip bus ride to Little Rock. Inside the meeting, CWAers called on Windstream to publicly disclose its political campaign contributions on its website, along with company policy for management and Board oversight of those contributions.

Activists then marched to City Hall to join students and other allies in protesting the city’s plans to raze several communities where predominantly elderly residents live to build a Technology Park that can be located elsewhere in the city. CWAers joined that effort to Stop the Attack on the American Dream.