Occupy Burlington: "Citizens Bank is Closing!"

Resolution for the Ejection of Citizens Bank From Burlington, Vermont
Consensed On by the Occupy Burlington General Assembly, April 29, 2012

Whereas Citizens Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland, and

Whereas the Royal Bank of Scotland was the recipient of the world's costliest bank bailout, getting approximately $74 billion from the British government (http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2009/11/royal_bank_of_scotland_becomes.html), and

Whereas the Royal Bank of Scotland received $200 million from American taxpayers as a counter-party to the AIG bailout (http://www.scribd.com/doc/13294757/AIGs-Biggest-Counterparties), and

Whereas the recent audit of the US Federal Reserve has revealed that the Royal Bank of Scotland received $84.5 billion in secret, below market-rate loans from the Fed, while its Citizens division received an additional $10 billion (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-21/wall-street-aristocracy-got-1-2-trillion-in-fed-s-secret-loans.html), and

Whereas on April 25, 2012, the Boston Globe reported that Citizens Bank will be paying $137.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that the bank systematically defrauded customers by reordering their transactions in order to maximize the number of overdraft fees, which disproportionately impact those with low incomes (http://www.boston.com/Boston/businessupdates/2012/04/citizens-bank-pay-million-settle-overdraft-suit/TqQwQbhhvsg4Xw3VOIFNcM/index.html), and

Whereas this pattern of behavior clearly demonstrates that Citizens Bank is a corrupt, exploitative institution whose values are in opposition to those of the people of Burlington, and whose continued presence serves to actively harm our community.

Therefore we, the Occupy Burlington General Assembly, hereby demand that Citizens Bank close its branch and leave our city as soon as is physically possible. Should they refuse and disrespect our community's values by continuing to operate, we call on everyone who believes that the interests of our community should come before those of a bailed-out foreign bank to join us in a campaign to boycott and picket the down-town branch.

To support our campaign, the first step is, if you have an account or a mortgage at Citizens Bank, to move your business to a member-owned, democratically-governed credit union. There are several in Burlington, and, by patronizing them rather than Citizens Bank, you will be helping to build a financial system that far better serves the needs of the 99%.

Second, please join our picket line in front of the Citizens Bank branch's entrance. Even contributing an hour a week will help ensure that every customer learns of our boycott and understands that doing business with Citizens Bank undermines the wellbeing of our community. We'll be starting by picketing from 11am-noon on Saturdays, but, as more people join our campaign, we'll start adding hours throughout the week (to sign up for a shift, visit: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F094CAEA92DA75-picket). Ultimately, our goal is for there to never be a time when someone can bank at Citizens without first crossing a picket line.

Finally, we want to emphasize that our campaign is directed at Citizens Bank, not its employees, who are fellow members of the 99%. As our campaign aims to redirect patronage from Citizens to local credit unions, we call on those credit unions to help ease the transition by extending preferential hiring status to any Citizens Bank employee who loses their job as a result of this action.

Too Big to Fail is too big for Burlington. By working together, we can achieve a financial system that serves our community rather than plundering it. Citizens Bank is Closing!