Replies to post #268350 on Early Bird Special (EBS)

[Bunny]

Teamsters: KeyBank Funds MiseryLast update: 2/26/2009 11:48:00 AM--Public Information Campaign Targets KeyBank Bailout Scandal WASHINGTON, Feb 26, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Teamsters Union is launching the "KeyBank Funds Misery" public information campaign today to highlight Cleveland-based KeyCorp's irresponsible use of taxpayer bailout money. KeyBank also has been financing Oak Harbor Freight Lines, a rogue company that has violated federal labor laws and international labor standards during a 157-day strike in the Pacific Northwest. Oak Harbor, an Auburn, Wash., company, relies on KeyBank for its lines of credit, which has enabled executives to employ replacement workers for union members. As part of the campaign, the Teamsters Union is unveiling a new Web site: , where the public can find facts about KeyBank's receipt of $2.5 billion through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) along with multiple examples of harmful misconduct. The site highlights KeyBank's student loan scandal, payment of IRS fines related to a questionable corporate tax shelter and lobbying of Congress to advance corporate bankers' interests. The site also provides a forum for KeyBank customers and employees to tell their own stories, and to help them organize a KeyBank action. The site will be advertised on popular Web portals across the nation. "KeyBank has a history of predatory student lending that has left students with an unfulfilled education and huge loans to pay off," said Ira Rheingold, Executive Director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates. "In repeated cases, KeyBank used various federal rules to avoid liability and leave innocent students with huge debt. Because of KeyBank's abusive student lending past, we as consumers and taxpayers should not be rewarding them with a huge taxpayer bailout unless effective safeguards are in place to control KeyBank's behavior." The Teamsters are also sponsoring a series of giant bus ads in KeyCorp's hometown of Cleveland. The ads read, "KeyBank: Takes Our Money; Wastes Our Taxes; Hurts our Kids," and prominently feature photos of children negatively affected by KeyCorp's support of Oak Harbor Freight Lines. "KeyBank is receiving $2.5 billion in TARP funds from taxpayers," said Al Hobart, Teamsters International Vice President and President of Joint Council 28. "KeyBank was given this money under the condition that it act in the public interest. But its practices of predatory lending to students, lobbying and tax evasion, along with the financing of Oak Harbor Freight Lines, have had severely negative effects on American workers and their families." The Teamsters Union has asked its local unions across the country to contact KeyCorp immediately and begin the process of transferring their banking business. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was founded in 1903 and represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters
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