People Take To The Streets To Protest Bailout
AIG Sees Protests At Corporate Headquarters In East
© Jon Pike
Mar 20, 2009
People took to the streets to protest the million-dollar bonuses that former insurance giant AIG was paying to executives with taxpayer-financed rescue funds. People protested at AIG corporate headquarters in New York, Pittsburgh, and Boston. But places as far flung as Fargo, North Dakota were also the site of protest actions.
Protests Take Place in the East
The Wall Street tabloid Dealbreaker printed a memo circulated to AIG personnel in New York detailing how to deal with protests.
- Avoid leaving the building during the protest unless it is necessary
- If you must leave the facility, attempt to avoid the immediate area of the protesters. Based on the size and disposition of the protest, Corporate Security may reroute personnel to other exits to include over the bridge to 72 Wall
- Avoid displaying company issued ID card outside of the office space
- Avoid using bags, apparel, etc that displays the company logo
- If you are on a lower floor, close the blinds/shades to window
- If you feel that you are in immediate danger or harm, call 911 immediately
The Pittsburgh office of AIG expected a protest of about 50 people. Boston AIG headquarters also saw some protesters. The International Brotherhood of Electrical workers helped organize AIG protests there. Over One hundred gathered in Boston. But such protests were not confined to the big banking cities of the east. There were also protests in flyover country.
Fargo, North Dakota Sees AIG Protest
People in Fargo, North Dakota also decided to assemble amid the melting snow to join about 10,000 people nationwide to protest the use of some of the bailout money.. That included a few people in Fargo, North Dakota who held up such signs as:
- It’s Time For An Economy That Work For Everyone
- Worker’s Voice To End CEO Exploitation
One of the groups organizing the Fargo, North Dakota rally was NDPeople.org.
Edward Liddy, the head of AIG says that some of the employees receiving the 182-billion dollars in bail out money had felt the sting of the public indignation and had started returning all or part of some of their million-dollar-plus bonuses.
AIG was not the sole target of protests, other banks were, also.
On his Tonight Show with Jay Leno appearance, President Obama defended the use of some of the bailout money, but did not defend the bonuses.
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