BOSTON – A rally was held July 31 in Boston’s Faneuil Hall marketplace to protest Fidelity Investments’ exploitation of its workers, and the utter disregard of the majority of its investors. Fidelity Investments is in control of all of the mutual funds that are owned by the investors and workers from the Stanley Corporation, Enron, WorldCom, Cooper Industries and Tyco Corporation.
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka told the crowd of 800 workers from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) and other labor organizations, “There is a war against the workers of America. The labor movement is confronting all the aiders and abetters of corporate greed and the corporate con men.”
Fidelity Investments refuses to make public its proxy voting, regarding major decisions it makes about its shareholders’ mutual funds, including those workers of the major corporations that it handles.
“Prove to us that what you’re doing is right,” Trumka continued. “Fidelity is not interested in transparency.”
Tom Birmingham, president of the Massachusetts Senate and a gubernatorial candidate, said that “Nobody stands for people like organized labor. Workers want the American Dream; Fidelity Investments, and others, are attacking the American Dream of the workers.”
Former Stanley Works and Enron employees also spoke at the rally. Laura Parnigoni, a laid-off employee of the Stanley Works Corporation, said, “Workers need to know their rights. Corrupt CEOs should do their time. We need justice for workers.”
Bruce Raynor, the president of UNITE, said: “There’s something wrong with the system, and it needs to be fixed. The children of unemployed parents can’t go to college. This is a crime. … Working men and working women of America built America. We’re going to insist on laws and regulations to protect the workers.”
Trumka closed the rally by saying, “This is not the end, but the beginning of the workers’ fight against corporate greed.”
The author can be reached at pww@pww.org
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