People Before Banks Coalition launched

A broad coalition of labor, religious and community organizations held a press conference Oct. 8 in Detroit to announce the formation of the People Before Banks Coalition. This new formation is pressing for a national two-year moratorium on foreclosures. It is also demanding justice for workers losing their jobs and livelihoods due to the practices of financial institutions.

The People Before Banks Coalition is comprised of the organizations that spearheaded a mass march on Chase Bank during the U.S. Social Forum held in Detroit in June. These forces have been leading a campaign for divestment from Chase.

The coalition’s founding members and organizations include the United Auto Workers International union; the Rev. Ed Rowe of Central United Methodist Church in Detroit; the Rev. David Bullock, head of Detroit Rainbow PUSH; the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs; the Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellerman, a leader in the Interfaith Justice Committee of the USSF; Jobs With Justice; the Farm Labor Organizing Committee; and other organizations.

Anti-foreclosure attorney Vanessa Fluker spoke at the press conference on behalf of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition and warned that people should not be taken in by the banks’ pronouncements about allegedly halting foreclosures.

Fluker emphasized that the federal government now backs up the vast majority of mortgages through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with the Federal Housing Administration. “Bailouts of the banks occur with virtually every foreclosure,” said Fluker. “President Obama has the power to declare a national two-year moratorium by executive order to really stop foreclosures, but he won’t do it.”

Rev. Bullock also joined the call for a two-year moratorium. “The struggle against the banks is not just a fight for homeowners — we are in solidarity with all workers and communities across the country.”

Bullock discussed the coalition’s support for farmworkers in North Carolina represented by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee. FLOC has called for a national boycott of Chase because of the bank’s backing of R.J. Reynolds Co., which has refused to negotiate with FLOC for justice for the farmworkers.

UAW president Bob King issued a statement on behalf of the union which read in part: “While the UAW is happy that Chase Bank has taken [a] first step in halting foreclosures in several states, we hope [it goes] further. We are asking that Chase Bank enact a two-year moratorium on home foreclosures. A moratorium would allow homeowners at risk of losing their homes to pay a reasonable rent in lieu of mortgage payments, giving the homeowner time to recover in this period of economic emergency.

“We urge JPMorgan Chase Bank to intervene in the horrendous situation for tobacco workers in North Carolina where migrant farm workers suffer low wages and unsafe working conditions.”

King participated in a fact-finding tour of North Carolina tobacco fields in September and experienced firsthand the inhuman conditions under which the tobacco workers live and work.

U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. also spoke in support of a two-year foreclosure moratorium. He announced that he has directed his staff to call Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who leaves office in January, in a last-ditch effort to get her to implement a moratorium. Conyers stated, “It’s not rocket science. Even Republican governors in the 1930s did it.”

Michigan Democratic gubernatorial candidate Virg Bernero also attended the press conference and announced his support for the moratorium. Workers World got him to nail down this pledge by asking Bernero if he would use his executive authority under MCL 10.31 to declare a state of economic emergency and implement a two-year moratorium by executive order. Bernero responded, “You got it.”

The People Before Banks Coalition is beginning to plan for a national conference in Detroit to press the struggle forward. The Moratorium NOW! Coalition reports it is getting calls from around the country from grassroots organizations ready to take on the anti-foreclosure, anti-bank battle.

Responses are also coming in to the online petition for a two-year national moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, which can be signed at bailoutpeople.org/moratoriumpetition.shtml.