from: William Hughes

On Wed., Dec. 10, 2008, a demonstration at the Bank of America (BOA) was held in downtown Baltimore, MD. It was led by activists from the All Peoples Congress, among other groups. The purpose of the protest was to show solidarity with the 200 “Sit-In” Republic Windows and Door Workers of Chicago, Il, whose plant has been shut down. The BOA canceled the company’s financing. Its action left the workers without any severance and vacation pay. Critics are insisting that the BOA should use some of the billions of dollars it received in a recent federal-taxpayers-funded bailout to help the workers. The BOA, in turn, blames the company for this situation. For background, see: http://www.ueunion.org/uenewsupdates.html?news=430 and http://www.counterpunch.org/sustar12092008.html. At the heart of this problem is the out sourcing of U.S. jobs, via so called “Free Trade” agreements, which have been endorsed by Conservatives, like Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah); and Liberals, such as Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD). It is time to “renegotiate NAFTA” and for the Labor Movement to lead that charge. Check out: http://www.economyincrisis.org/ and http://www.renegotiatenafta.org/?q=node/11. Activists underscored their demand that the federal government “bailout workers” and not the Wall Street banksters and “to stop the plant closings.” Source: http://www.pephost.org/site/DocServer/Republic_workers_flyer.pdf?docID=6841.