Some top U.S. labor leaders rallied protesters in Chicago on Tuesday. They came for a convention of the American Bankers Association. The labor leaders are calling for tougher regulation of the financial sector.
About 2,000 union members and community activists marched to the bankers’ meeting. They criticized everything from mortgage rip-offs to overdraft fees.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka praised a move by President Barack Obama’s administration to cut executive pay. Trumka also called for tighter government controls on systemic risk, the derivatives market and corporate governance...
TRUMKA: ...to force these bankers out of their Wild West mentality, out of their arrogance, out of their contempt for the public that they’re supposed to serve.
Some of the convention delegates say they don’t deserve the scorn. They say it was Wall Street investment houses, not local banks, that packaged and sold subprime mortgages and paid the multimillion-dollar bonuses.
More: Chicago protests can be fun. Especially when you’re near the guy with the trumpet.