The Financial Times reported yesterday that Citigroup is raising credit card interest rates on 15 million customers. Citigroup has received three taxpayer-funded bailouts totaling $45 billion and the latest plan to keep the failed bank afloat gives the government and taxpayers a 34 percent stake in the company.

Said SEIU's Anna 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." This news comes a week after Citigroup announced it is also raising salaries by as much as 50 percent for investment bankers and other top executives, to accommodate for smaller annual bonuses. Citigroup needs to commit to give any new raises to front-line bank employees, who struggle just to make ends meet while dealing with the rising costs of healthcare, not top executives who have contributed to this mess.

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According to the New York Times, Citigroup is raising salaries by as much as 50 percent for investment bankers and other top executives, to accommodate for smaller annual bonuses.

The Times also reports on to whom the bonuses will go:

Legal and risk management employees, as well as those in the credit card and consumer banking units, whose pay is typically skewed toward salary, rather than bonuses, are expected to receive smaller increases.

Anna Burger, Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union released a statement in reaction to the news:

Color us skeptical, but not surprised: The top dogs at a company who took three taxpayer-funded bailout packages worth $45 billion, while wrecking the economy and keeping the bulk of its employees at near-poverty levels, have decided to reward themselves once more. Unfortunately, not all raises are created equal.

Citigroup needs to commit to give any new raises to front-line bank employees, who struggle just to make ends meet while dealing with the rising costs of healthcare, not top executives who have contributed to this mess.

America's big banks stand out as a startling example of an era of corporate excess that needs to come to an end if we're going to rebuild an economy with strength that can last. By passing the Employee Free Choice Act, we can begin to build an economy that doesn't just work for people in the top floor executive suites.

If you've been following our blog, you've no doubt heard about last year's anti-Employee Free Choice call sponsored by Bank of America. As you'll remember, just three days after receiving its first set of bailout funds - $45 billion in total - participants on the call were encouraged to send "large contributions" to groups working to block passage of the bill.

Since that time, a number of groups have followed Bank of America's path. Rather than focusing on paying the American people back, they've instead used their resources to lobby against measures that would improve the lives of their new investors - us.

Here's a quick look at a few of these groups, in addition to Bank of America:

AIG

The American International Group has received the largest of all taxpayer bailouts, at a total cost of $173 billion to the American people, who now own approximately 80% of the group.

More than $90 billion of AIG's bailout funds went towards paying numerous domstic and foreign banks, such as Bank of America and Citigroup. Both of these groups are part of a huge lobbying effort against laws that would benefit working families, such as Free Choice.

The Financial Services Roundtable

The Financial Services Roundtable (FSR) a special interests group that represents more than 90 companies in the finance and insurance industry, including the nation's largest banks and insurance companies. Their leadership includes Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and U.S. Bank.

In total, member companies have received an estimated $213.8 billion in taxpayer money. You could buy a lot of round tables with that kind of money.

In every quarter in 2008, the RSF has lobbied against the Employee Free Choice Act. And this year, they've banded together with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to make its defeat their top priority in 2009.

Citigroup

Since last year, Citi has received a total of $45 billion in taxpayer bailouts.
Following Bank of America's lead, they hosted a conference call to build opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act. The call, led by a senior executive at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, was held on March 11th.

Just a day before the call, Citigroup cited Free Choice as the reason to downgrade Wal-Mart's rating, leading to speculation that the move was politically motivated to try to paint the bill as anti-business.

Burger King

Goldman Sachs is one of the largest shareholders of Burger King, and along with private equity firms TPG and Bain Capital, control the Burger King board through seats on its executive committee. Goldman Sachs has received $10 billion in taxpayer bailouts.

Burger King's second largest franchisee is a unit of Cerberus Capital Management, the same private equity firm that also owns Chrysler. Chrysler has received $5.5 billion in taxpayer bailouts.