"Don't pick our pockets so you can line yours!"

That was the message from thousands of union members in 70 cities across the United States to Charles Schwab, Wachovia Corp., and other banks and investment firms that are pushing President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security.

At a rally by hundreds of union members and their allies in front of the Charles Schwab office in Washington, D.C., AFL-CIO Pres. John J. Sweeney said Schwab and Wachovia "and the rest of Wall Street are major backers of the Bush plan to privatize Social Security because they stand to rip off more than $1 trillion dollars in management fees. That's not just an ordinary conflict of interest; it ranks right up there with the greediest Wall Street scandals of all time."

"With money provided by these firms–all of whom are already making millions off the pension funds of working Americans," Sweeney said, "the White House is financing a giant propaganda campaign to convince voters to support privatization. But American voters know privatization is a flim-flam scheme. They already know that privatization means steep benefit cuts, an exploding deficit, huge bills for our children and grandchildren, and more corruption on Wall Street."

Eleanor Holmes Norton, delegate to the House of Representatives from the District of Columbia, said the Bush plan "is a clear and present danger to the most important social benefit our country has ever created."

Norton charged Bush with "selling a bunch of snake oil" because labor and independent economic analysts have said the Bush plan to set up private Social Security investment accounts for workers under 55 would mean steep benefit cuts, drive up the federal deficit, and do nothing to strengthen the Social Security system.

Damian Rivera, left, and Scott Wilson of the GCC/IBT Contracts and Research Department picket the office of Charles Schwab in Washington, D.C., to protest the stock trader's push for private Social Security accounts.

"Does he think we don't know that 50 percent of the elderly would live in poverty without Social Security?" Norton asked. "Does he think we don't know that 30 percent of those who receive Social Security . . . are not retired at all" but are the disabled and the spouses and children who receive survivor benefits? "Where is their private account? Their private account is with the payroll taxes that workers contribute," Norton said.

Norton reminded the demonstrators that, during the Clinton administration, "we took every dime of the [federal budget] surplus and put it in Social Security and then we created a lockbox. You could not spend any money unless you paid for it from funds that were not in the lockbox."

"What did President Bush do the moment he walked into office?" Norton asked. "He spent [the lockbox money] on the Iraq war. He spent most of it on tax cuts for the rich. Well, you know what Mr. President? Hands off our Social Security! It's not yours to spend."

Josh Williams, president of the Metropolitan Washington AFL-CIO Council, noted the "breadth and depth" of those who oppose privatizing Social Security. "It is not the old against the young, as Bush would like to make it," Williams said. "It is Americans against an administration that is insensitive and greedy."

"We do have a crisis here," Williams said. "But the crisis is not Social Security. The crisis happens to be at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And his name happens to be George W. Bush. . . . We are here with our hands, our feet, and our voice. And, if need be, in 2006 with our ballot cards to send a message to those who would plunder Social Security: No, no, no!"

Carol Fontana, left, of the GCC/IBT secretary-treasurer's office and Carol Ann Occhipinti of the Accounting Department walk the picket line to save Social Security.

Ajita Talwalker, president of the U.S. Students Association, said "young workers will not be tricked into supporting a plan that fails to secure our financial future . . . [We] will not be tricked into supporting a plan that puts our country further into debt and threatens important social programs that we care about–like education. We won't be tricked into supporting a plan that will dramatically cut benefits that we worked so hard for. We won't be tricked into lining the pockets of Wall Street financial institutions at our expense.

"It's a scam," Talwalker said. "We won't be tricked. Instead, we will organize. We will educate. And we will mobilize students and young workers to publicly reject the president's plan."

Jim Bowles, a retired member of the Teamsters and United Food and Commercial Workers, noted that nearly everyone in his senior housing residence in Maryland depends on Social Security as the main source of income.

"I am opposed to any plan that would take away any form of my income or the benefits of my children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren," Bowles said. "I don't think anyone should be dependent on whether the stock market has a good day. . . . The president doesn't have the right to mortgage our future."

Sweeney and Williams delivered petitions to Wachovia and Charles Schwab that were signed by thousands of union members and their families. The petitions demanded that those companies withdraw from the Alliance for Worker Retirement Security–a business-backed lobby group for the Bush plan–and end support for other pro-privatization groups. The petitions also demanded that those companies disclose what went on behind the scenes at their many private meetings with public officials about the administration's Social Security scheme.

A recent study by United for a Fair Economy and the Institute for America's Future reported that the chief executive officers of seven of the financial firms that are funding pro-privatization campaigns have incomes so high that they exceeded the $87,900 earnings cap for Social Security contributions within eight hours or less. Meanwhile, economists estimate that allowing private accounts for Social Security would create a $940 billion windfall in management fees for investment and banking companies.