Public Employee Press

Labor backs Wall Street protest
Demonstrators support DC 37 layoff fight

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Labor activists are enthusiastically supporting the Occupy Wall Street protesters, whose angry message about the unfairness of the economy to 99 percent of Americans resonates with working families across the country.

Major unions, including DC 37, gave the protest an important boost Oct. 5 with a massive demonstration at Foley Square in downtown Manhattan. The rally by tens of thousands of union members and community supporters ended in a mile-long march to the protesters' encampment at Zuccotti Park in the heart of the financial district.

The solidarity march and labor's involvement helped give credibility to the mostly young protesters, who at first were ignored and ridiculed by the mainstream media.

Job-killing corporate greed

Within a month after the first tents went up in the park on Sept. 17, similar protests against economic inequality spread to 100 U.S. cities and sprang up in Paris, Rome, Tokyo, Toronto and Sydney, Australia.

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts addressed the Oct. 5 rally and was joined on the podium by Eddie Rodriguez, president of DC 37 and Local 1549, and Maf Misbah Uddin, DC 37 treasurer and Local 1407 president, and leaders of other unions.

Roberts praised the protesters for "standing up against the Wall Street-style corporate greed that kills jobs, destroys communities and deprives students of education opportunities." She thanked the group for showing up the previous day at DC 37's demonstration against the layoffs of hundreds of school workers.

Bucks for banksters, zippo for others

Many unionists were buoyed by the high energy and moral outrage of the young protesters. Local 1359 President Dennis Ifill was among the many DC 37 leaders and activists who marched in solidarity. He said he felt a common bond with Occupy Wall Street because it champions economic fairness like the union.

Labor's embrace of the protesters "is a step in the right direction," Ifill said. "We have been rallying at City Hall, but we need to come out even stronger. Being in the streets and joining and supporting others are very important."

"It was one of the best demonstrations I have ever been to, with thousands and thousands of people," said Local 1407 Vice President Jed Matalon, who marched alongside Ifill. "The people were enthusiastic, sincere and orderly. I hope we keep this up."

Chanting "The banks got bailed out, we got sold out" and "Tax Wall Street," the marchers snaked down Broadway to the Zuccotti Park encampment.

Between 100 and 200 protesters sleep in the park each night, and 1,000 show up regularly during the day. They have set up a mini-city there, with a "People's Library," a sleeping area, health-care, media and food centers, and labor and press meeting spots. They hold two assemblies each day to discuss issues and decide on activities.

1 percent prosper, 99 percent struggle

"If the government had used the bail-out money for the people instead of the banks, they would be able to hire teachers, fund public hospitals and pay for Police and Firefighters," said Gillian Cipriano, 23. Cipriano has been unable to find work seven months after getting her nursing degree and lives with her parents on Staten Island.

"I am unhappy with the state of the country," said Brandon Delcastillo, a 26-year-old engineering student at LaGuardia Community College. He said he was angry that the elite 1 percent have tax breaks, loopholes, hidden corporate profits and cozy relations with politicians while the 99 percent struggle to keep their heads above water.

"The labor movement's quick endorsement of the sentiments of the Occupy Wall Street people tells us that everyday people feel the same economic insecurity the group expresses," said Gene Carroll, co-director of the state AFL-CIO/Cornell University Union Leadership Institute.

"The labor movement is in a crisis because so few workers are actually represented by unions. The unions need to reach out to build a movement that is broad and deep. Working with groups like Occupy Wall Street is exactly what unions should be doing."

On the eve of the solidarity march, President Gerald McEntee and Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, DC 37's 1.6 million-member national union, came out in support of Occupy Wall Street. They said the young activists reflected the outrage of working families over economic unfairness that AFSCME members showed this year in Wisconsin against Republican Gov. Scott Walker for ramming through a law that canceled public employees' bargaining rights.

"We stand in solidarity with those protesting Wall Street's greed," McEntee and Saunders said in a statement. "The economy that has wrecked so many lives, obliterated jobs, and left millions of Americans homeless and hopeless is the fault of banks that gamble with our future. Their reckless pursuit of profits, at the expense of working families' pursuit of the American Dream, must come to an end."