One sign says "CHARLES SCHWABB BACK OFF OUR RETIREMENT SECURITY".

I thought Social Security wasn't a "retirement" program, but an "insurance" program.

One sign says "CHARLES SCHWABB BACK OFF OUR RETIREMENT SECURITY".

I thought Social Security wasn't a "retirement" program, but an "insurance" program.


Social Security is an insurance program because it provides for the disabled as well as for the retired. But for the retired it is essentially a retirement program, unless you make too much money per year to qualify.

For other coverage of the event (and a photo that shows the large crowd at the beginning of the demonstration), please see the Other Press section of Indymedia for a link to a local news publication.

Here is what the National AFL-CIO has to say about the mobilization at this point:

What a great job you did last week telling the Charles Schwab
investment firm exactly what you think of their support for the
privatization of Social Security!

On Thursday, in 70 cities all across the country, thousands of
working people demonstrated outside Schwab offices. Wow! And
online activists like you sent nearly 45,000 e-mails (wow,
again!) and phoned Schwab offices with a clear message:
Schwab--Don't Pick Our Pockets to Line Yours.

You see, Charles Schwab, which makes millions handling
retirement savings for working people--is working directly
against our interests by supporting Social Security
privatization--which would cause deep cuts in guaranteed
benefits and put millions of retired workers in poverty.

Let's show Schwab we aren't going away. Please click the
following link to send a fax to a Charles Schwab office near you
telling the investment giant to drop its support for privatizing
Social Security.

www.unionvoice.org/ct/q71E1w71Gu4G/

Last week we sure were loud and we sure got enough media
coverage--but we're not going to let up an inch until Schwab
drops their support for the harmful plans to privatize our
Social Security.

Get this: Charles Schwab executives, starting to feel the heat,
claim the firm has "not taken a position" on privatizing Social
Security. Schwab is ashamed of its support for privatization--and it should be! Privatizing Social Security would devastate working people, like their clients, by slashing guaranteed benefits, exploding federal debt and opening Social Security up to political corruption and Enron-ization--while handing billions in fees to companies like Schwab that would manage privatized accounts. So Schwab wants us to believe it's just an innocent bystander in the attack on retirement security.

Shame on Schwab. Here's the truth:

* Schwab is a member of the Alliance for Worker Retirement
Security (AWRS), the leading business-backed lobbying group
supporting Social Security privatization. AWRS's very first
principle for Social Security reform is the creation of
privatized accounts.

* Schwab has funded the Cato Institute, a longtime proponent of
Social Security privatization.

* Schwab has a leadership role in the Securities Industry
Association--another big supporter of privatizing Social
Security.

* Schwab has been a player in strategy sessions with White House officials.

* Schwab's chief investment strategist, Liz Ann Sonders,
endorsed private accounts, and published reports say so has
Charles Schwab, the CEO himself.

Please take a minute right now to fax a Charles Schwab office
near you with this message: Shame on you, Charles Schwab. Drop your support for privatizing Social Security now. Click here:

www.unionvoice.org/ct/q71E1w71Gu4G/

Other investment groups--Edward Jones and Waddell & Reed, for example--heard their clients and other working families when we demanded they drop support for Social Security privatization. They pulled out of the pro-privatization lobbying groups. It's time for Schwab to do the same--and to put the financial interests of its clients and other working families above its own greed for those privatized account management fees.

Once you have sent your fax to a Charles Schwab office, please
click the following link and urge other people concerned about
retirement security to fax Charles Schwab as well. Click here:

www.unionvoice.org/ct/qp1E1w71Gu4F/

Thank you for working so hard to strengthen Social Security and
stop privatization.

In solidarity,

Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO
April 4, 2005

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You can sign up for
Working Families e-Activist Network at:

www.unionvoice.org/wfean/join.html