Letter to Committee Chairmen Stresses Fundamental Unfairness of Wall Street Excess at a Time When Working People Struggle 

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney today called on ranking members of the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee to address the “indefensible” runaway executive bonuses being doled out by Wall Street at a time when working Americans are increasingly squeezed by rising health care costs, stagnant wages and vanishing retirement security.

In a letter to Senators Max Baucus and Charles Grassley and Representatives Charles Rangel and Jim McCrery, Sweeney noted that Wall Street is expected to pay out $23.9 billion in bonuses this year, a 17 percent increase over last year. Just last week Goldman Sachs Group announced that is was dedicating a whopping $16.5 billion in year-end salaries, bonuses and other benefits. Bear Stearns said that would hand out $12 billion in compensation, more than $300,000 per employee, while Morgan Stanley Inc. gave chief executive John Mack $40 million in stock and options for 2006.

Sweeney urged the ranking committee chairman, in their leadership capacity in the new Congress, to close executive pay loopholes and enact tax policies that address inequities in the current system.

“The level of private excess is indefensible, particularly at a time when our nation faces serious challenges at home and abroad,” Sweeney said in the letter. “We are failing to devote the resources required to deal with the consequences of Hurricane Katrina, a $434 billion budget deficit, and an Iraq war that costs $2 billion per week.”

“This situation cries out for a more progressive tax policy that puts our country’s urgent needs ahead of the desires of a few individuals to spend more on a bottle of champagne than a minimum wage worker will make in an entire year,” Sweeney continued.

For a copy of the full letter, please call 202-637-5018

Contact:  Steve Smith (202) 637-5018