Former Enron, WorldCom and Arthur Andersen Workers and Thousands of Working Men and Women Call on Business Leaders for Accountability

"American consumers can shop with more assurance of quality and safety at their corner grocery store than American investors have when they shop for equities in our stock market," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a sweeping address today as he called for business leaders and government to curb "crippling greed" with a five-point action plan.

Outside the New York Stock Exchange and surrounded by more than a thousand workers, including laid-off Enron, Arthur Andersen and WorldCom employees, Sweeney called on the Securities and Exchange Commission and the stock exchanges to agree to a single higher listing standard for publicly-traded companies. That standard, he said, should require expensing and indexing of stock options given to CEOs and other good-governance reforms for corporations.

He also announced that the AFL-CIO will file suit on behalf of 17,000 laid-off WorldCom workers to get the severance they are owed.

Sweeney said Congress should write the new corporate governance standards into law, enact pension reforms and "put workers in the front of the line" in bankruptcy proceedings. Laid-off Enron workers, for example, had to go to court to force the company to make modest severance payments to rank-and-file employees, even though top executives gave themselves $100 million in severance bonuses. The AFL-CIO provided legal counsel to the former Enron workers, who won an unprecedented $34 million in severance payments.

The 66-union labor federation will use the power of the more than $6 trillion in workers' pension funds - the country's single largest source of investment dollars—to insist on higher standards of corporate governance and behavior, Sweeney said. He said the AFL-CIO will go "company by company, beginning with the S&P 100," to "demand corporate accountability" using shareholder action and other tactics.

Pledging grassroots mobilization beginning in August and a "No More Business As Usual" national day of action on October 19th, Sweeney also said the AFL-CIO will demand political accountability by using the influence of union voters and their family members "to change the way business is done in Washington."

"The relationship between corporate America and its workers must be restored, but it's not easy when thousands of us are losing our jobs and retirement savings, " said former WorldCom worker Cara Alcantar. "It is time for corporate America to commit to its workers, lead by example and play fair."

"American workers can depend more on the lottery than on their employers for decency, fairness and security," Sweeney said.

"As investors, as employees, as consumers and as stewards of our communities, we must demand standards of basic decency and morality from corporate America."

Referring to the corporate accounting reform bill passed by Congress last week, he said, "cooked books are just a part of the problem and accounting reform is just a part of the solution.

"We're not going to restore confidence in the stock market, or renew trust in American business, or bring equity to our economy unless we seize this historic opportunity."

To lead off a three-day escalation of the AFL-CIO campaign to restore corporate accountability, Sweeney spoke outside Stanley Works in New Britain, Connecticut on Monday to protest Stanley Works' plans to escape taxes by reincorporating in Bermuda.
On Wednesday, the new push will continue in Boston outside Fidelity Investments, where AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka will speak against actions by Fidelity, the largest mutual fund in the country, that "prop up corrupt CEOs and insider deals." Fidelity has refused to disclose to shareholders how it has voted in key corporate governance fights.

The AFL-CIO corporate accountability campaign was well underway when the federation held "No More Business as Usual" town hall meetings featuring former Enron workers in more than a dozen cities around the country earlier this year. This year union pension funds have been leading a Wall Street investor revolt with shareholder initiatives challenging cronyism and CEO self-enrichment in corporate governance.

The AFL-CIO represents 13 million working men and women.

For information contact:
Suzanne Ffolkes 202-637-5279 cell-202-262-1581
Kate Ferranti 212-604-9552 ext. 213 cell-917-968-7853