A coalition of labor unions, advocacy organizations, and researchers will meet with Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen Friday to discuss greater transparency at the central bank and better conditions for workers, the group announced Tuesday.
The coalition is pushing for greater input into the Federal Reserve System’s conduct of monetary policy and oversight of banks. This week, it is calling for greater transparency into the process of selecting regional Federal Reserve bank presidents.
The Center for Popular Democracy, the union-affiliated advocacy organization coordinating the group, announced Tuesday morning that it would send 35 “workers, policy advocates, economists, and activists” to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors in Washington to meet with Yellen.
Under the coalition name “Fed Up,” the activists are pushing for regional Fed banks to overhaul the selection of their presidents, who are responsible for the regulation of banks in their districts. The presidents of the 12 regional banks are chosen by each bank’s board of directors, who are generally members of local businesses.
The Fed has often been criticized for its selection process for regional bank presidents on the grounds that the presidents exert significant influence over policy but are not elected democratically or approved by elected officials. Their nominations, however, must be approved by the Fed’s Board of Governors, who are nominated by the president and approved by the Senate.
The members of Fed Up have written to the Philadelphia and Dallas Fed banks to increase the transparency of the process as their presidents, Charles Plosser and Richard Fisher, respectively, step down, and to include workers in the process of finding new presidents.
They also are asking Yellen and the regional banks to prioritize full employment and working conditions.
The Center for Popular Democracy’s Ady Barkan said in a statement accompanying the announcement of Friday’s meeting that “millions of workers and their families are still struggling, whether from involuntarily part-time hours, poverty wages, or a lack of earned sick time. Meeting with the chair is a step towards elevating workers’ voices in the Federal Reserve System.”
The groups making up Fed Up include the AFL-CIO labor federation, Demos, the Economic Policy Institute, the National Employment Law Project, and the Campaign for America’s Future, among others.
