Sept. 29, 2011 (CommonDreams.org) -- Citing common cause, the Transport Workers Union -- one of the country's largest unions with over 200,000 members -- has announced its support for the Occupy Wall Street protests. They will join a Friday rally. Other unions are following suit, with a slew of big NYC unions planning an Oct. 5 rally.
The Village Voice interviewed Transport Workers Union Local 100's spokesman Jim Gannon:
Why did they join? "Well, actually, the protesters, it's pretty courageous what they're doing," he said, "and it's brought a new public focus in a different way to what we've been saying along. While Wall Street and the banks and the corporations are the ones that caused the mess that's flowed down into the states and cities, it seems there's no shared sacrifice. It's the workers having to sacrifice while the wealthy get away scot-free. It's kind of a natural alliance with the young people and the students -- they're voicing our message, why not join them? On many levels, our workers feel an affinity with the kids. They just seem to be hanging out there getting the crap beaten out of them, and maybe union support will help them out a little bit."
Could Unions Help Rebrand Occupy Wall St from a Dirty Hippie Protest to a Populist One? from ANIMALnewyork.com on Vimeo.
