UAW Pickets to Save Social Security!

Dallas unionists and other progressives picketed brokerage firm Charles Schwab on March 31 to ask them to stop financing the publicity campaign to privatize Social Security. More than 62 activists gathered on the public sidewalk while AFL-CIO leader Jim McCasland and NAACP President Bob Lydia carried our message to the Dallas office of District Manager Michael Gavin. Lydia commented afterward that Gavin had accepted their written message graciously and that he hoped to have further opportunity to explain how Schwab could act more responsibly toward the community.

Gary Livingston, Reecie Giesecke, and Ron Spurlock were on the sidewalks for justice. Also attending were Jay Dunn, Danny Green, Gene Lantz, and Andrea Lozano.

Schwab and other brokers formed a group to gather funds to back proposals from the Bush Administration that would take billions of money out of public hands and put it into private investments. Brokerage firms would be among the first to profit from the scheme, while America's workers and retirees would be the first to suffer.

March 31 was a national day of action. According to AFL-CIO Field Organizer Paul Vasquez, there were actions in the five largest Texas cities. Pressure from unions and retiree organizations has already gotten results. Two brokerage firms have already pulled out of the publicity organization, according to Vasquez. Click here for more photos of the action.