For a while, we've been saying that people are a little ticked at Bank of America's practices.

We'd like to apologize to our canine friends, who, it appears, are also joining the movement for real reform at Bank of America.

Here's a picture from one of yesterday's events in Greensburg, PA. Our friend on the left is lamenting the loss of his "401K-9," while his buddy on the right thanks "greedy CEOs" for taking her "from the dog house to the poor house.":

Note: If you'd like to view the photo in its full size, please do so by clicking it.

Our Take Back The Economy campaign is picking up some steam on the web, with a good number of blogs covering our events from yesterday and today.

Many local blogs have been pointing to our events, as was the case with BlueNC, North Carolina and My Left Nutmeg of Connecticut, Nashville 21 of Tennessee, and the Daily Weekly blog of Washington State.

Other blogs have jumped on our "Fire CEO Ken Lewis" theme, most notably Robert Greenwald's post on Huffington Post, the New York Times' Dealbook blog, the Americans for Fairness in Lending blog. Even a "climate change" blog written by students, called It's Getting Hot In Here has joined the call.

Much more coverage is sure to follow, so please stay tuned throughout the day.

Here are some pictures from yesterday's rally in Palo Alto, CA near the Stanford University campus, as part of a national taxpayer day of action to demand a change of leadership at Bank of America.

A group of people, including members of SEIU Local 2007, went inside a BofA branch with a taxpayer proxy card to cast their votes for firing BofA CEO Ken Lewis, whose failed policies have wreaked havoc on the economy and put taxpayers on the hook for as much as $200 billion...so far.

Over 100 people turned out in Portland, Oregon today to demand taxpayer accountability at Bank of America. Members and staff of SEIU Locals 49 and 503 rallied in Pioneer Courthouse Square to demand that BofA CEO Ken Lewis be fired for the bank's policies that have devastated the economy. It was part of a coordinated day of action in dozens of cities across the country, where taxpayers signed proxy cards demanding a change in leadership at the nation's top bank.

We are just hearing back from our rally in Minneapolis today, as part of a national day of taxpayer actions calling for Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis to be fired.

More than 30 SEIU and UFCW members gathered with community allies at a BofA-owned insurance office in Minneapolis to hold Ken Lewis accountable for wreaking havoc on the economy. They sent a group inside the branch, where they spoke with a representative from the bank, and then held a rally outside.

Stay tuned for updates from our major actions in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Click here to find an event near you.

This morning the Wall Street Journal reports on the first look at those financial stress tests. The results? Bank of America has a "shortfall [that] amounts to billions of dollars."

Bank of America is what the Wall Street Journal called a "problem child" of the financial industry. CEO Ken Lewis has overseen the spectacular fall from grace of his company - and things aren't looking up any time soon.

Enough. It's for CEO Ken Lewis to go, and for Bank of America to be reformed.

Today, at more than 60 locations around the country, taxpayers will gather outside Bank of America locations to call for reform at the bank by signing "taxpayer proxy cards." Those cards will be delivered to Bank of America's annual shareholder meeting tomorrow, when shareholders could decide it's time for Ken Lewis' tenure at the helm at Bank of America to come to an end.

Already more than 70,000 people have signed their cards calling for reform at Bank of America - you can sign yours here.

So how can we take back our economy? Here's where to start with Bank of America:

1. Fire CEO Ken Lewis;
2. Commit to real financial reform;
3. Stop consumer abuses and predatory lending practices that hurt communities;
4. Provide bank workers access to affordable healthcare;
5. Stop lobbying against pro-worker legislation like the Employee Free Choice Act that would support working families, restore balance to our economy, and ensure bank workers have a voice on the job to protect consumers.

Bank of America can get to $199.2 billion from our government, but the bank continues to hurt customers, taxpayers, and its own employees.

Our savings disappear, our debt skyrockets, and our retirement security vanishes. And for what? For the same people who got us into this mess trying to tell us they know the way out.

Take, for instance, news from yesterday's New York Post. After Bank of America cut 34,000 jobs and pledged to cut 35,000 more, the bank took the amazing step of hiring 15,000 new workers! The only problem is, these jobs are based in India.

After US taxpayers putting U.S. taxpayers on the hook for nearly $200 billion in Bank of America, it's time the bank returned the favor. It's clear that CEO Ken Lewis is part of the problem with Bank of America, not the solution. So it's time for him to go.

Find an event near you today and sign a "taxpayer proxy card" to show your support for reform at Bank of America.

Taxpayers are rallying in dozens of cities across the country today calling for Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis to go. Today's events are off to a great start. Here's a snapshot from the event in Providence:

We want to hear how your BofA events are going, so please let us know. Post an update from your action here, and click here to find an event near you.

There are going to be taxpayer actions going in today in dozens of cities around the country. Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis' failed policies have wreaked havoc on the economy. Taxpayers are getting together all over the country today to say that enough is enough and it is time for Lewis to go! I am going to be bringing you coverage of these actions throughout the day.

A national coalition of groups has organized major actions in Washington, DC, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and smaller events in about 60 other cities.

Several events are already underway up and down the East Coast:

Hartford, CT
Washington, DC
Miami, FL
Exeter, NH
Hanover, NH
Manchester, NH
Nashua, NH
New York, NY
Bethlehem, PA
Greensburg, PA
Hollidaysburg, PA
Lancaster, PA
Reading, PA
Williamsport, PA
Providence, RI
Blacksburg, VA

Find an event near you at TakeBackTheEconomy.org.

Bank of America just won't stop.

The New York Post reports this morning that in just the first few months of 2009, Bank of America added 15,000 jobs to its workforce in India. This is after Bank of America cut 34,000 jobs in the US, and pledged to cut 35,000 more.

Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis just doesn't get it. It's time for taxpayers to call for him to go.

More than 20,000 people have already signed "taxpayer proxy cards" asking for CEO Ken Lewis to be fired and to reform Bank of America. Can you help us reach 30,000 in the next 48 hours?

Click here to sign your "taxpayer proxy card" - we'll deliver them to Bank of America during its annual meeting on Wednesday.

When CEO Ken Lewis was asked about the nearly 35,000 announced job cuts, he showed little care for his employees:

"I feel bad about firing people, but at least I have the courage to do it."

This is the same Ken Lewis who took home $35 million in compensation in the last two years, and the same Bank of America that may receive up to $199.2 billion in taxpayer dollars.

You'd think they'd have some semblance of responsibility to the American public. After all, it's our government's money that's helping keep Bank of America alive.

Think again.

Help us reach 30,000 "taxpayer proxy cards." Click here to sign yours we'll make sure it's delivered to Bank of America on Wednesday.

Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis is apparently only interested in his personal bottom line, and not that off his company, his employees, or his investors. It's time for him to go.

Thanks for all you do - and please pass this message on to your friends to help us reach our goal.

Visit http://takebacktheeconomy.org/ to join our April 28th actions across the country and find an event in your area.

In Washington, they may have questioned whether the Employee Free Choice Act battle was drawing to a close. Good thing no one told the rest of the country, where rallies and activities in favor of the bill are going strong. From Maine to North Dakota, activists gathered to tell their Senators, the time for the Employee Free Choice Act is now. Here are some highlights of our nationwide effort.

After attending the National Worker Mobilization in Washington D.C. March 8-11, security officers returned to their home cities and spread out to talk to non-union security officers about the Employee Free Choice Act.

Hundreds of security officers represented by SEIU spoke with more than 500 officers who currently don't have a union in 12 cities, signing them up to take action on the important worker legislation.

"We all just want the chance to join the middle class," said Steve Tilsley, a Securitas security officer in Denver, Colorado. "The Employee Free Choice act will help restore fairness in the workplace, and that is something we can all agree we need."

SEIU represents more than 30,000 security officers and is the largest security officers union in the country. Stay tuned at www.StandForSecurity.org to follow the security officers around the country.

We've just returned from our local AIG headquarters here in D.C., where around 130 people stood in the rain to take part in our Take Back the Economy day of action. Demonstrators held signs, sang songs, and presented AIG with a "reality check" worth billions of dollars from the American people.

Several people spoke, including SEIU President Andy Stern, who had this to say about AIG and other bailout recipients:

We own this company. And we didn't buy it to have them hand out million dollar bonuses. And I'll tell you this. It's not good enough to get just half the bonuses back. We want it all back, and we want it now.

We learned today that Citibank, who's gotten $45 billion of our money, is still going to spend $10 million to remodel their executive suite. Now I've been in the executive suite at Citigroup, and it is sweet. But remodeling the executive suite is like remodeling the Titanic before it sank. We don't need remodeling, we need our money back, we need home loans, we need jobs, we need fair pay for every American to get ahead

Watch the video here:

And here are some pictures of the rally:

To read the full transcript of Andy's speech, please read the extended entry.

Yesterday, as bailout bank CEOs entered the Rayburn House building to testify before Congresson how they used bailout funds, they were greeted by the playful chants and clever signs of SEIU members.

We've put together a short video of the demonstration - and managed to capture the thoughts of both the members participating and concerned citizens who were lined up to watch the hearing.

Take a look here:

And enjoy these photos of the event:

Last week, as reported on our blog, concerned citizens across the country participated in events where they talked directly to employees and Bank of America customers on what's happening with their company and why their CEO needs to be fired.

We've put together a video from some of these events:

As you can see from the video, there was plenty of interest - and much surprise - from people on the street. Hardly anyone could believe that Bank of America's CEO, Ken Lewis, makes around $9,803 an hour - or that many of Bank of America's employees don't have health care.

That's why it's important that we continue to get the word out on the four principles that Bank of America should agree to:

• Provide health care for its 247,000 workers
• Keep over 12,000 troubled borrowers in their homes with executive bonus money
• Sign new leases with renters who live in buildings that are being foreclosed upon
• Commit to providing affordable healthcare to all of its employees and their dependents.

We'd like to take a moment and thank our great volunteers who participated in these 40+ events. Because of you, we're getting the word out on Bank of America - and we'll hold them accountable for how they're using the $45 billion in bailout money that they've received.

Yesterday, activists descended on Bank of America headquarters in Los Angeles, Charlotte, New York City, and Boston to present our demands of the campaign:

The U.S. Department of Labor announced at 8:30 a.m. today that another 533,000 jobs were lost in November; catapulting the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent--and bringing the grand total number of jobs lost this year to a whopping 1.7 million.

Further adding to these depressing stats: many of the jobs lost aren't coming back. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Among the unemployed, the number of persons who lost their job and did not expect to be recalled to work increased by 298,000 to 4.7 million in November. Over the past 12 months, the size of this group has increased by 2.0 million.

These numbers register as the largest number of job reductions seen in 34 years, since a whopping 602,000 positions were slashed in December 1974, when the country was in a severe recession.

The loss of 533,000 payroll jobs was much deeper than the 320,000 figure that economists were forecasting. And just think: only a couple of months ago, Bush and John McCain were saying the fundamentals of this economy were strong.

President-elect Barack Obama has called for a massive economic recovery bill to generate 2.5 million jobs over his first two years in office, reiterating the nation's need for this urgent plan of action in a statement issued this morning:

"The 533,000 jobs lost last month, the worst job loss in 34 years, is more than a dramatic reflection of the growing economic crisis we face. Each of those lost jobs represents a personal crisis for a family somewhere in America. Our economy has already lost nearly 2 million jobs during this recession, which is why we need an Economic Recovery Plan that will save or create at least 2.5 million more jobs over two years while we act decisively to maintain the flows of credit on which so many American families and American businesses depend.

"There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making, and it's likely to get worse before it gets better. But now is the time to respond with urgent resolve to put people back to work and get our economy moving again. At the same time, this painful crisis also provides us with an opportunity to transform our economy to improve the lives of ordinary people by rebuilding roads and modernizing schools for our children, investing in clean energy solutions to break our dependence on imported oil, and making an early down payment on the long-term reforms that will grow and strengthen our economy for all Americans for years to come."

This November jobs report did include one slightly positive statistic for workers. From AP:

"Workers with jobs saw modest wage gains. Average hourly earnings rose to $18.30 in November, a 0.4 percent increase from the previous month. Over the year, wages have grown 3.7 percent."

This rise in unemployment means families will undoubtedly be facing holiday hard times. Here at SEIU, we are calling on Congress to support a new economic model that addresses the real concerns of America's working families. We must act now to jump-start job creation, fix our national healthcare system and rebuild our economy and the middle class.