Bank Merger: For Richer and for Poorer

In “Wells Fargo, Interstate Agree to Merge” (Jan. 25), Wells Fargo Chairman Paul Hazen said of the possibility that thousands of bank employees could wind up in lower-paying service jobs: “I don’t think McDonald’s is necessarily a bad place to work.”

Sounds to me like the modern equivalent of Marie Antoinette’s “Let them eat cake!”

And First Interstate Chairman William E.B. Siart chimed in: “We’ve done our job--created a winner for our shareholders.”

Siart and Hazen might review a little history. While the current downsizing fervor has further padded the pockets of this nation’s ruling class, as Marie found out the hard way, blatant disregard for the fate of ordinary mortals has a way of coming back to haunt you.

I’d say McDonald’s isn’t such a bad place to work--or plot revolution.

LARS HELLBERG

La Mesa

*

The news of the agreed takeover of First Interstate Bancorp by Wells Fargo & Co. was not a great surprise. However, one could only hope that First Bank System would have taken First Interstate over instead. Or keep things the way they are.

The result of the merger is clearly a loss of local jobs. I’ve heard that anywhere from 5,000 to 8,500 jobs will be lost in the Los Angeles area.

To top it off, I haven’t been able to escape the nauseating radio advertisement from Wells Fargo about how the merger will be “good for business” in Los Angeles. Is Wells Fargo going to make loans to all their terminated employees?

Unfortunately, this is only an isolated case in a long string of massive corporate layoffs that has affected everyone in our country and is cutting the purse strings of our country.

So what do we do? Be loyal to those corporations that support their employees and keep them employed. Stop buying stock in the corporations that see employees as cattle, and stop buying their products.

Don’t allow ourselves to think, “This is the way it is; you can’t change it.” If we all begin to realize what’s happening, and change our purchasing habits, we can become a strong voice and start screaming that corporations just can’t lay thousands of people off their jobs without serious consequences.

LISA BOCK

Westlake Village

*

The downsizing trend that’s now rampant in many business sectors simply means more and more executives are looking for new ways to make a buck for themselves.

A disgusting example is the proposed bank merger between Wells Fargo and First Interstate banks. I believe it can be summed up in one sobering sentence:

What 39 overpaid executives are being given for firing 8,000 people could be used to pay 239 workers’ salaries for a full five years (at a reasonable teller rate of $25,000 a year).

DAVID MICKEL

West Los Angeles