The protesters held signs saying, “Bail out the people, not the banks” and “No tuition hikes”
“For too long Wall Street has been able to make too many dollars on the backs of the working people,” said Charles Jenkins, a leader of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. “We won’t accept hikes, service cuts, or lay-offs!”
Teachers and students at the rally were both concerned over possible cuts. The students are looking at substantial tuition hikes and the teachers are facing lay-offs. Carrie Joseph who was one of the speakers said, “500 teachers got laid off from John Jay (a law enforcement school) this week. We and our education are not expendable!”
The City University of New York (CUNY) has a reduced budget for 2009-2010. Their flyers say that 80 percent of CUNY students stay in New York State and contribute $15 billion a year to the state’s economy. Tuition was free when the colleges were established in the Great Depression, and protesters called say that is the kind of investment needed now.
According to the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY, New York State would have $17 billion more in income this year if it reversed the tax cuts enacted between 1994 and 2005. The state tax on the highest earners has been cut in half. They say that New York should not adopt progressive revenue solutions, not cut CUNY’s budget or ask CUNY students to bail out part of the State budget.
The board of the MTA will meet Wednesday Dec. 17 to discuss means to reduce its debt. Transportation fare hikes; bridge tolls, lay-offs, and service cuts are all being considered as ways to decrease their billion-plus dollar debt.
According to flyers that were handed out at the rally, the reason the MTA’s debt is so large is that they are paying back interest on loans taken out decades ago. They also said that financing schemes had blown up in the MTA’s face when backers lost all their money in the financial crisis. They pointed out that the board of the MTA was comprised of bankers and billionaires and that the MTA’s current state was intertwined with banks and Wall Street firms.
The flyers also stated that if we don’t reject the MTA’s attempt to put their crisis on backs of New Yorkers, they will then go after the Transit Workers Union whose contract is up next month. According to the protesters, refusing to bail out the banks is common sense.