Wells Fargo Locks 1500 Shareholders Out Of Meeting On Foreclosures, Prisons, Pay Day Lending
Yesterday, Wells Fargo showed its true colors.
With about 1,500 people outside its annual shareholder meeting in San Francisco, Wells Fargo denied entrance to almost every 99%er who had purchased shares in the mega-bank and hoped to be a part of the conversation about Wells Fargo’s corporate policies around foreclosures, private prisons, payday lending, and other abusive practices.1
You read that correctly: Wells Fargo blockaded its own shareholders from entering its corporate headquarters for a meeting which they had every right to attend.
Big Banks may think they can keep abusing us and ignoring us. But we have the power to get their attention. Building on yesterday’s incredible action, student, labor, religious, and environmental groups have joined with The New Bottom Line to call for May to be Move Our Money Month.
Click here to learn more about how you can take action in this Move Our Money Month – even if you’ve already closed or you don’t have a big bank account!
Yesterday, a photographer from National People’s Action caught Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf sneaking in through the back door into the meeting. Meanwhile, the few 99%er shareholders who were able to make it into the meeting were immediately seized by police and escorted out upon making any statement. Some shareholders were even arrested.
If big banks won’t hear our demands, we’ll take away their business until they have no choice but to stop abusive investments and practices. It’s time for every one of us to take a stand against big Wall Street banks like Wells Fargo and take action with our checkbooks, our credit cards, our savings accounts.
Here’s how you can take action this May:
- Close your checking, savings, and credit card accounts in May and show big Wall Street banks our collective power.
- If you’ve already moved your money from a big bank recently, make sure you’ve added your money to the virtual counter on the MoveOurMoney website so your action will get us that much closer to $1 billion moved from big banks.
- You can also organize your community to take action either by individual community members moving money or by organizing a divestment resolution in your local government.
Let’s build on the pressure that thousands of people started yesterday at Wells Fargo. Click here to find out how you can join with others to take action this May.
Inside the shareholder meeting yesterday, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf was awarded a pay package of nearly $20 million for 2011.2 Stumpf said, “It’s been a very good year for Wells Fargo.” Let’s make sure that no big bank CEO will be able to make such a declaration until they’re ready to make a clear change.
Make a plan to move your money today and take action in Move Our Money Month!
Thanks so much for your action,
Ian, Tracy, Ilana, and The New Bottom Line coalition
Connect with The New Bottom Line
1.http://www.newbottomline.com/in_pictures_wells_fargo_shareholder_meeting_action
2.http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/04/wells-fargo-turns-away-its-own-shareholders-annual-meeting
http://www.newbottomline.com/
