South of the South

Bailout Recipients Hosted Call To Defeat Key Labor Bill

Huffington Post just broke this story and acquired audio from a passionate anti-Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) conference call, hosted by everyone’s favorite bank, Bank of America.

Three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the U.S. labor community’s top legislative priority.

Considering the aforementioned fact that Bank of America just received a huge get-out-of-jail free card from the goverment, it makes sense their role in this anti-union union is merely orchestral and instrumental for the time being. They wouldn’t want to cause any waves in receiving the $55 billion more free cash they still need to stay afloat.

As evidenced by its dual interpretation of the legislation, Bank of America’s role in the EFCA fight is a bit murky. The company, as stated by an official there, hosted the call for the purposes of equity research, meaning that their goal was to represent the opinions of clients and not the bank itself. But their involvement in an effort to drum up support for defeating the labor-backed legislation, so soon after getting bail out funds from the federal government, left a bad taste in the mouth of some union officials.

The fervent rhetoric given by Bernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot, is suprisingly candid for a recorded call:

“This is the demise of a civilization,” said Marcus. “This is how a civilization disappears. I am sitting here as an elder statesman and I’m watching this happen and I don’t believe it.”

…

“If a retailer has not gotten involved in this, if he has not spent money on this election, if he has not sent money to [former Sen.] Norm Coleman and all these other guys, they should be shot. They should be thrown out their goddamn jobs,” Marcus declared.

Arguments given to fight the EFCA include preventing America from turning “into France,” “an economy that is a disaster, a total absolute disaster,” and “the damage that out-of-control labor leaders have caused for other businesses.”

Here’s an idea: pay employees fair wages so they won’t have to live on borrowed terms, borrowed terms they could never be able to repay, and then maybe the ‘disasterous economy’ and retail world you so desperately rely on for your wealth could sustain itself.