Petition to protect Sallie Mae jobs has more than 31,000 signatures
Published: November 7, 2009
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Warren Ruda / staff photographer Sallie Mae CEO Albert Lord, left, and Troy Standish, vice president for Pennsylvania operations, hold petitions at a rally Friday in the company's Hanover Twp. facility signed by more than 31,000 Pennsylvanians.
HANOVER TWP. - More than 31,000 Pennsylvanians have signed a petition to protect jobs at Sallie Mae and to voice their concerns about legislation that puts about a third of those jobs at risk companywide.
"We have been overwhelmed by support," said Troy Standish, vice president of Pennsylvania operations for Sallie Mae, before a crowd of 1,000 during a town hall meeting Friday at Sallie Mae in Hanover Twp.
The crowd, mostly wearing matching blue T-shirts reading "Protect Pennsylvania jobs," cheered as employees brought out more than 7,000 pages of the petition with 40 signatures on each page.
It was a similar scene when employees rallied for Sallie Mae in August. It was then that Mr. Standish and Chief Executive Officer Albert Lord asked them to sign the petition.
The petition was drafted in response to legislation that would require the federal government to originate federal student loans. Since the House of Representatives passed the legislation and it is set to move to the Senate, the petition asks senators to support alternative proposals that would accomplish President Barack Obama's goals of making college more affordable, while also preserving jobs.
Sallie Mae, the nation's largest deliverer of private and taxpayer-subsidized student loans, employs 8,500 companywide. Locally, the 1,000 people who work at Sallie Mae serve more than 30 million students and families and more than 4,000 colleges and universities across the country.
"We want to not only protect jobs here. We want to grow them as well," Mr. Standish said.
In the next few weeks, the local petition will be combined with other petitions to "try to make a larger splash," Mr. Lord said. In all, he expects the petition will have more than 200,000 signatures from around the country.
Contact the writer: dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com
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