FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT:
November 19, 2009 Marcus Mrowka, 202-730-7759
SEIU Challenges Goldman Sachs to Reopen Stella D’Oro Factory, Aid Small Businesses and Modify Mortgages They Already Own
While Launching Too Little, Too Late Jobs Campaign, Goldman Sachs Continues to Force Businesses to Close their Doors, Refuses to Help Struggling Homeowners
Washington, D.C.—Today, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) issued the following statement of President Andy Stern challenging Goldman Sachs to take immediate action to reopen the Stella D’Oro cookie factory they helped shutter, aid small businesses they have investments in, and modify mortgages and small business loans they own.
SEIU also launched an online campaign to encourage taxpayers to contact Goldman Sachs directly and issue their own challenge to the firm to help workers and businesses struggling to get by.
Said Stern, “If Goldman Sachs wants to change their image they need to change reality. And the jobs campaign unveiled this week is an insufficient effort toward that goal."
“$500 million is one good day of trading for Goldman Sachs, less than 1 percent of what they got in taxpayer-funded assistance, and it doesn’t even compare to the $11.4 billion they paid themselves in the first half of 2009.
“The truth is that Goldman Sachs and the private equity firms it invests with continue to force businesses to close their doors and refuse to help families keep their homes.
“The Stella D’Oro cookie factory in the Bronx is the most shameful example. This was a profitable company founded by Italian immigrants more than eighty years ago. Generations worked side-by-side—earning a decent wage and healthcare benefits. Then a private equity firm bought the company, decided it could make more by dismantling it, and sold it to a company Goldman Sachs owns.
“Goldman Sachs and their other company didn't seem to care about these workers either. They shut a profitable factory down, eliminated nearly 150 middle class jobs and devastated an entire community to make a quick buck.
“The list goes on and on. They took Capmark Financial, one of the country’s largest commercial real estate lenders in the U.S, drove it into bankruptcy and put 1600 jobs at risk. And it was a similar story at Sunguard Data Systems where 200 people got layoff notices earlier this month.
“And once they put people out of work, they refuse to help them save their homes. The mortgage servicing company they own, Litton Loan Servicing, has only given loan modifications to 12 percent of borrowers eligible for the Home Affordable Modification Program.
“It’s time to issue a challenge to Goldman Sachs: Will Goldman continue to put their company over their country? Or will they set an example for the rest of Wall Street by using the profits and bonuses taxpayers helped them rake in to help businesses and families recover?
“Goldman Sachs must take immediate action to reopen the Stella D’Oro factory and restore good paying jobs in the Bronx. And they must go further and provide aid to every business they own through an investment and modify every small business loan and mortgage they own. Not another job or home should be lost because of Goldman Sachs.
“The demonstrations we saw in Washington, D.C. earlier this week and in Chicago last month are just the beginning if Goldman and the rest of Wall Street don’t change their ways and start helping America recover.”
