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For Immediate Release
July, 01 2009, 02:15pm EDT
Contact:
Marcus Mrowka, 202-730-7759
Christy Setzer 202-730-7349
SEIU to Citigroup: Shameful to Raise Interest Rates During Economic Crisis
WASHINGTON
Today,
the Service Employees International Union released a statement from
Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger on news that Citigroup is raising
interest rates on as many as 15 million credit card holders. According
to the Financial Times,
"People close to the situation said that Citi, which is about to cede a
34 percent stake to the US government as part of its latest rescue, had
upped rates on between 13 and 15 million credit cards it co-brands with
retailers such as Sears." This comes a week after the bank announced it
would raise salaries by as much as 50 percent for investment bankers
and other top executives, to accommodate for smaller annual bonuses.
Said Burger, "It's shameful that
Citigroup would raise interest rates on millions of Americans during a
time when record unemployment and home foreclosures are forcing
families to rely more and more on their credit cards just to get by.
"After three taxpayer-funded
bailout packages worth $45 billion and a new rescue plan giving the
government a 34 percent stake in the company, Citigroup continues to
hold onto the failed policies of the past that enrich the very few at
top while indebting the rest of America.
"Taxpayers and the government are
the largest stakeholders of the failed bank. We need to rebuild our
financial industry from the ground up and end these practices that
crashed our economy in the first place.
"That's why yesterday,
front-line bank workers, consumer groups, and Rep. Ellison joined
together to call for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and other
reforms that ensure front-line bank workers can sound the alarm on
these practices, protect consumers, and help build an economy that
works for everyone again."
With 2 million members in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in the Americas. Focused on uniting workers in healthcare, public services and property services, SEIU members are winning better wages, healthcare and more secure jobs for our communities, while uniting their strength with their counterparts around the world to help ensure that workers--not just corporations and CEOs--benefit from today's global economy.
LATEST NEWS
Presumptive British PM Burnham's Gaza Apology Met With Skepticism
"Andy Burnham knows that war crimes are being committed in Gaza, but has he got the courage to do anything about it?" asked the Greens' deputy leader.
Jul 10, 2026
Labour MP Andy Burnham, who is on track to become Britain's next prime minister following Keir Starmer's resignation last month, apologized Thursday for his party's initial response to Israel's genocidal war on Gaza—but critics said his circumspect atonement fell short of the mark.
"Let me start by saying the unbearable suffering in Gaza is a scar on our collective conscience," Burnham, the erstwhile Manchester mayor who won last month's Makerfield by-election, said in a three-minute video. "It's completely unacceptable that innocent Palestinians, including children, continue to be killed, that there's still a humanitarian crisis with too little aid getting in, and that the Israeli military continues to expand the area it controls in Gaza."
"We've got to do more to put pressure on the Israeli government," he asserted. "The response has too often not been good enough. We need to do better. Yes, we have taken some important steps. These include recognizing the Palestinian state, placing sanctions on Israeli ministers, and imposing waves of sanctions on violent settlers and the organizations that support them."
"But let's be honest, the UK was too slow to call for a ceasefire, and we must now do more to strengthen our approach," Burnham continued. "Israel continues to violate the ceasefire agreement, killing innocent Palestinians. We're seeing a surge in settler violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the continued expansion of illegal settlements, displacing Palestinian communities."
The lawmaker accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government of "clearly attempting to make a two-state solution impossible."
"That's why we need to do more, which includes looking at further sanctions, both on those involved in the violence in Gaza, but also looking at measures to ban trading goods with illegal settlements," he said.
"There's increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed," Burnham added. "There must be accountability for the depth of the suffering the people of Gaza have experienced. Ultimately, however, it must be for the international courts to determine, rather than politicians."
The International Criminal Court has already issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, where more than 250,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded, most of them civilians, since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023. The International Court of Justice is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa and formally supported by nearly 20 nations.
While some Zionist UK MPs denounced Burnham's comments as anti-Israel, Burnham's pledge of a "fair and balanced approach" to Israel and Palestine, his placing of the onus on courts and not elected officials, and the fact that he did not say the word "genocide" in his apology drew criticism from Palestine defenders.
"Gaza has now endured more than 1,000 days of genocide," Green Party Leader Zack Polanski said in response to the video. "Andy Burnham must answer: As prime minister, will he end Britain's participation in genocide or continue it?"
Deputy Green Leader Mothin Ali told The Guardian that Burnham is hiding behind international courts “because admitting that the British government knows war crimes are being committed would trigger a legal duty to immediately halt arms sales."
Andy Burnham knows that war crimes are being committed in Gaza, but has he got the courage to do anything about it?Britain must halt arms sales to Israel immediately
[image or embed]
— Mothin Ali (@mothinali.bsky.social) July 9, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Adnan Hmidan, chair of the Palestinian Forum in Britain, said that Burnham's "recognition that far stronger action is needed to confront the grave violations committed against the Palestinian people" is an important step.
"But the scale of devastation, killing, starvation, and forced displacement inflicted upon Gaza demands far more than acknowledgement," he continued. "It requires courageous political action."
"As an increasing number of legal experts and international human rights organizations have concluded, we hope more British political leaders will recognize that the atrocities committed in Gaza constitute genocide under international law, and will support the measures necessary to ensure accountability, end impunity, and uphold international law without exception or double standards," Hmidan added.
British political commentator Saul Staniforth said on social media that "it was clear from the very start that what Israel was doing in Gaza was genocide... and yet over two-and-a-half years later, Burnham still refuses to call it genocide. Why? Because if he did, he'd have to take action as PM."
"Burnham only made his statement yesterday on Gaza because of pressure, and meaningful action by a government led by him will only happen because of pressure," Staniforth added.
Queen Mary University of London politics professor Tim Bale told Al Jazeera that Burnham is “trying to repair damage, but his remarks are probably more symbolic than substantive."
Noting that Labour has “only just recovered from the accusations of antisemitism that were swirling around it during the [Jeremy] Corbyn era," Bale asserted that “the UK is already at the edge of what it’s likely to do and say on Israel.”
“It also has to worry about maintaining relations with a profoundly pro-Israel US administration,” the professor added.
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'We Cannot Stand Silent': Sheinbaum to Seek Criminal Charges Over ICE Detention Deaths
"We cannot turn a blind eye to the Mexicans who have died," said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Jul 10, 2026
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday that her government intends to pursue criminal charges over the deaths of 17 Mexican nationals in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Associated Press reported that Sheinbaum's administration will submit a request "to state prosecutors' offices and the US Department of Justice, asking them to consider criminal charges against those responsible for the deaths." The request, according to AP, "will be accompanied by civil lawsuits against the companies that operate the detention centers in an effort to put an end to human rights violations in those facilities."
Sheinbaum said her government decided to urgently move forward with its likely doomed push for accountability after an ICE agent killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston earlier this week. Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, had been living in the US for more than three decades.
Mexico's president called the killing "sad and regrettable," arguing that it "appears to have been targeted."
"We are going to do everything in our power, because we cannot stand silent," Sheinbaum said Thursday. "We cannot turn a blind eye to the Mexicans who have died."
According to a recent report by Physicians for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch, "the mortality rate of deaths in ICE custody is at its highest level in over a decade and has more than doubled since [US President Donald] Trump’s second term began."
"The rate is nearly four times that of the Biden administration, and more than two and a half times as high as that of the first Trump administration," the report found, noting that a record 71,000 people were in immigration detention in January 2026. "The surge in deaths is much worse than what one would expect even considering the much higher number of people in detention."
Deaths in ICE custody have drawn international alarm, with the United Nations high commissioner for human rights saying last month that "the lack of transparency and clarity surrounding the circumstances of these deaths in custody undermines accountability for them."
“I call for prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations into all deaths in ICE custody," said Volker Türk. "Those responsible for violations of the law must be held to account, and the rights of the victims’ families to truth, justice and reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence must be upheld."
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Troy Jackson Says He Would 'Never Vote’ for Military Aid to Israel if Elected to Senate
"Anybody with eyes and a heart knows the Israeli government is committing genocide in Gaza," the Maine Senate candidate said.
Jul 10, 2026
As he runs to take the place of Graham Platner as the Democratic US Senate nominee for Maine, former State Senate President Troy Jackson affirmed that he was in step with the majority of Democratic voters and would oppose sending military aid to Israel as it commits what he called a "genocide" in Gaza.
Jackson, a longtime labor activist who finished third in the Democratic gubernatorial primary last month, has been floated by many progressives as a fitting replacement for Platner, who suspended his campaign to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins this week following sexual assault allegations.
In his campaign announcement, Jackson hit many similar themes to Platner, who won the Democratic primary last month.
Jackson billed himself as a "progressive fighter" seeking to build a "powerful movement of working-class people" and emphasizing his support for Medicare for All and "tak[ing] on corporate power."
But some observers noted the absence of any mention of Gaza, which Platner emphasized heavily and which has become a central moral issue for many Democratic voters, who overwhelmingly oppose continued support for Israel as it commits what the majority feel is a genocide against Palestinians.
A review of Jackson's social media history showed that he had no posts about Gaza when he announced his campaign on Wednesday.
But following reports that an Israeli missile strike had killed a Palestinian aid worker who'd organized World Cup watch parties in Gaza, Jackson took the opportunity to make his stance clear.
"This is unconscionable," Jackson wrote on X. "Anybody with eyes and a heart knows the Israeli government is committing genocide in Gaza. It has to end, and we as Americans have the power to end it."
"When I'm in the US Senate," he continued, "I’ll never vote in favor of US taxpayer-funded military aid to Israel."
Other leading candidates, most of whom ran for governor, have expressed a range of opinions about Israel's conduct.
Nirav Shah, a physician who led the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention from 2019 to 2023 and finished second in the gubernatorial primary, has expressed a similarly strong stance that Israel was committing genocide and that he would support a full arms embargo and would refuse any campaign funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Shenna Bellows, who came in fourth place in the governor's race and currently serves as Maine's secretary of state, has not publicly expressed a clear opinion on support for Israel, though in her 2014 Senate run against Collins, she advocated more generally for “deep cuts in defense spending” so public money could be directed toward domestic projects.
The progressive group Our Revolution, which has thrown its support behind Jackson, commended the candidate for taking a forthright stance.
"Troy Jackson doesn’t do word salad," the group said. "He calls a genocide a genocide and says he’ll never vote for taxpayer-funded military aid to fund it. That’s what Maine voters delivered a historic win for on June 9."
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