The AFL-CIO is launching a national grassroots fight to defend social security against the Bush privatization attempt. Actions in San Francisco and Boston Wednesday singled out financial firms like Charles Schwab
urging them not to assist social security privatization. Tim Paulson is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Labor Council.

[Tim Paulson]: "Social security is not broken and the only thing that's attempted to be broken is the promise to working men and women that when they retire that they will have guaranteed benefits. And we believe that corporate America is just drooling right now waiting to get a piece of our retirement and make sure that they can profit off of it and let it get into the speculative realm."

The AFL-CIO believes that private financial companies, rocked by corporate crime and scandal in recent years, should never be trusted to handle social security accounts.