United Steelworkers announce support for ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest

[TacticalPeek]

Source: Raw Story


United Steelworkers announce support for ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest

By Eric W. Dolan
Saturday, October 1, 2011

The United Steelworkers, North America’s largest industrial union, announced on Friday that it supported the ongoing “Occupy Wall Street” protest that began in lower Manhattan and has slowly spread to other cities across the United States.

The protesters have pledged to occupy Wall Street until something is done about corporate greed and corporate influence on the U.S. government. They have been camped out in New York’s old Liberty Plaza since September 17.

“The United Steelworkers union stands in solidarity with and strongly supports Occupy Wall Street,” Leo W. Gerard, International President of the United Steelworkers, said in a statement.



Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/01/united-steelworkers-announce-support-for-occupy-wall-street-protest/

---

USW statement:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/usw-supports-the-occupy-wall-street-protest-movement-2011-09-30

[gateley]

1. K&R nt

[GTurck]

55. Alcoa and...

Kaiser aluminum workers are also part of USW;once that would have included Reynolds Metals which is now history. So glad that the biggest unions are helping here and that, by proxy, we are in there too. We are in full SOLIDARITY.

[dkf]

2. Union pensions own a huge chunk of wall street.

One wonders why they never organized as shareholders and owners of wall street. That is where the system is completely f'ed.

[PETRUS]

5. One big reason

the funds are managed by financial professionals who vote in lockstep with management. Union members don't get proxy statements.

[ShockediSay]

34. Just like the ordinary stockholder owns a corporation & has no say

& has a lot less value, on average.

So how's your 401k doing?

[me b zola]

39. Thats a tactic ( a silly one) that teabaggers embrace

Just sayin

[readmoreoften]

40. I would hardly say that union pensions own a "huge chunk" of Wall Street.

That doesn't resonate with any model of stock ownership I've ever seen. Now the reverse, that a huge chunk of union pensions are invested in the stock market, that's the sad truth.

[dkf]

53. Invested in = owns, at least if it is stocks.

Just think of all the state pension systems added together...HUGE.

Look at CALPERS alone.

Total Market Value $221.3 Billion

http://www.calpers.ca.gov/index.jsp?bc=/investments/assets/mvs.xml

That's more than Bill Gates $59 billion and he is listed at #1.

[Kolesar]

54. US Steel employee pensions are managed by US Steel, not a union pension fund

as would be done with the trade unions or the Teamsters.

[ixion]

3. just keeps getting bigger...

:woohoo:

It makes me proud. :)

[PETRUS]

4. Yay! And let me apologize

to anyone who is listening, for my previous indifference to labor. I didn't oppose unions, I just mistakenly thought their work was done. I was so, so wrong. When I was born, around 30% of the US workforce was organized; now it's less than 10%. During that time economic output continued to climb but wages have stagnated while the top 1% has seen their share of the wealth grow from 10% to 40%. The 99% has suffered greatly. Solidarity.

[Jackpine Radical]

9. Solidarity indeed, Bro.

The Labor Movement had one brief moment in the sun, in the era that stretched from FDR to Reagan. The battles of the century before that era were bloody and brutal, and the fall that got going in earnest with the busting of PATCO has been devastating.

In any majorly capitalistic system, unions are a perennial necessity to advance the interests of the 99%.

[whathehell]

56. +10 n/t

[No Elephants]

47. Good for you. for being willing and able to change your mind.

Labor's work is never done.

For instance, one result of this terrible economy is that people are terrified of losing their jobs and are doing thing to keep them that they would not have done before and expecting less by way of raises, vacation, etc.

And people who are lucky enough to find a job are accepting lower wages than they earned the last time they had a job.

IOW, the plutonomy is still working very nicely for the wealthy.

[spicegal]

6. Some have been predicting that it will only take a spark.

The social injustice, economic disparity, the impunity under which Wall Street operates, along with many other economic royalists, coupled with high unemployment....these are the things that foment revolution. What happening in NY, Wisconsin, and a few other places is the real deal, real grass roots, real average Americans who feel they've been getting shaft for 2--30 years. This is in sharp contrast to the Tea Baggers, angry about a black president, funded by wealthy special interests, and driven by mass right wing media.

[Proles]

8. Well said, and it always amuses me how the

media gives the tea baggers so much attention, but they scoff at this *authentic* movement as if its little more than a gathering of lazy hippies.

And this is only the beginning I'm afraid.

[tcaudilllg]

16. I disagree. Before the leaders of Wall St. weren't so reckless, but now it's gotten out of hand.

They are fast becoming a threat to national security.

[socialist_n_TN]

21. They weren't so reckless because they were restrained

BY the power of the working class AND by a competing economic system in the USSR. When those two things went by the way, they became free to act on their natural capitalistic tendencies.

Just look at history. ANYTIME the capitalists feel like they have a free hand, this is the way they act. You call it reckless. I call it capitalism in it's natural state.

[daleanime]

43. I have to agree...

but that doesn't make it any less shameful.

[socialist_n_TN]

45. Of course it's shameful. Capitalism is a shameful

system. That's why it needs to be smashed. It can NOT be controlled, it needs to be replaced.

[daleanime]

59. I honestly believe it will be....

just a question of when.O8)

[Enthusiast]

58. Wall Street is beyond a threat to national security.

They have done far more harm to the nation than any "terrorist" group could ever hope to. They have usurped our representative government by gaining control of all three branches of government.

[No Elephants]

41. RW media = all main stream media today.

I've seen unbelievably right wing slanting from NYT, LAT, etc.

Appaarently, the RW view = all the news that's fit to print in 2011.

[rhett o rick]

7. Will they supply demonstrators or food? nm

[Jackpine Radical]

10. Both would be nice.

[EFerrari]

12. The door seems to be open.

Cool.

[AsahinaKimi]

14. lets hope it

Blows the doors off the entrance!!

[No Elephants]

46. At Michael Moore's website is a link to a story by a 17 year old who got a sandwich 7 hours after

being arrested. And, given he was demonstrating in his home town when he was arrested, he probably had not eaten a good while before that.

If you've ever raised an average 17 year old boy, this was almost torture.

[Johnny Harpo]

11. Now If This Could Only Turn Into A....

general strike.

Maybe the teamsters could slow down the nations trucks.

[pnorman]

13. K&R!

n/t

[lonestarnot]

15. Woodamnwhooooo! Growing!

:bounce: :party: :applause:

[unkachuck]

17. "...until something is done about corporate greed and corporate influence ..."

....God bless the United Steelworkers and all who support and have participated in the Occupy Wall Street protest....

....this could be the beginning of the end of the corporate greed and corruption that has plagued our people and nation for decades....

...the protesters have pledged to occupy Wall Street until something is done about corporate greed and corporate influence, and we should pledge our unconditional support for their efforts....

[TBF]

18. K&R nt

[socialist_n_TN]

19. I'm happy about this, but

I've just got to wonder what "support" from these unions really means. We (the other 99%) don't just need words, we need actions too.

I saw in another post a snippet about soldiers in Iraq organizing assemblies. Soldier soviets along with worker soviets were what brought down the Tsar. And later Kerensky.

[No Elephants]

49. You wonder what support from a union really means?

During the town halls about health care reform, when NRA members were showing up with guns strapped around their shoulders, waists and calfs, who showed up with muscles and signs to support the elected Democrats holding those town halls?

You? Me?

ETA. that probably should have been "calves," not "calfs." Duh.

[socialist_n_TN]

72. Well I look at "support" in the form of sympathy strikes

and workplace occupations. REAL militant actions. It would divide the NYPD response and, PERHAPS, allow Wall Street to be TRULY occupied. And as to muscle from the unions, I'm in favor of an armed worker's militia. After all if they can show up with guns, why can't we? How's that for muscle? :)

[Psephos]

20. I guess I didn't realize there were any steelworkers left in the U.S.

I'm only half-kidding.

[Deep13]

25. LOL, you beat me to it. nt

[Luciferous]

22. K&R

[Yon_Yonson]

23. Excellent good news

[Deep13]

24. That's amazing! ...

I had no idea there are still steel workers in this country!

[Cynicus Emeritus]

26. Where's the beef ?

I decided to join this forum tonight specifically because of a desire to discuss this protest, and the need for older Americans and vets such as myself to become involved. We are frustrated by the global corporations and financiers and political elite who have successfully pillaged the USA, and have been for decades by sending our economy and jobs to Mexico, Japan, China etc. They own our government. The Republican corporatists have obviously been instigators, but they are not alone. I don't give politicians from either Party who voted for these biased trade pacts, or bailouts for Wall Street crooks a pass.

The Congress and the Presidents had the Constitutional job of defending the USA (for decades now) in what remains economic warfare and not of rewarding globalist corporations and the bankers. There are very few actual American corporations, contrary to what the media calls them. These corporations now have multiple citizenships of convenience, and none of them have loyalty to hard working Americans.

Where are the perp walks? This is the biggest outrage of all. Trillions have disappeared and yet the same people have more and most of us have less. If Americans let this opportunity to push Congress and the President in a direction that we want, and not the status quo that the thieves want, then shame on us. The major media has been part of the cover-up and has been working feverishly since 2008 to keep this anger from spreading. They are playing along to placate the public instead of inciting the public with the truth.

[socialist_n_TN]

27. Welcome to DU. Just remember a basic

premise of Marx. Economics, politics, and power are ALL interconnected. And in a capitalist system, they're all interconnected with the sole purpose of exploiting the working class.

:)

[TacticalPeek]

28. Welcome to DU. And remember that other Marx principle:

The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.

G. Marx

[No Elephants]

44. OMG Brilliant. Kudos.

"I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me for a member" is my favorite, though I live by the opposite principle.

(I want nothing to do with any club that does not want me as a member.) It just doesn't have the same ring, though.

[Bryn]

31. Welcome to DU...I am so glad to see a post like yours

I completely agree. I am one of older Americans and I am saddened and outraged to see what they have done to America. It's time to fight back!

[No Elephants]

42. Welcome to DU. I don't know if it takes Marx to oppose the plutocracy and its plutonomy.

However, whatever it takes, I'm there.

[Odin2005]

62. WELCOME!!!

:hi:

[Denver Progressive]

29. Glad the steelworkers are joining up!

The rich still think that if they ignore the occupation it will go away, boy are they in for a surprise. Solidarity!
:fistbump: :fistbump: :fistbump:

[DeSwiss]

30. K&R n/t

[patrice]

32. Yyyeeeeeee!!! HHhhaaaaaaa!!!

[ShockediSay]

33. https://occupywallst.org/

[KeyserSoze87]

35. Yes!

It's time for the unions to kick some teabagger ass!

:kick:

[Fire Walk With Me]

36. sweeeet

[mvd]

37. K&R. It is great to see so many organizing for economic fairness!

:kick:

[DemoTex]

38. Pensions Lost = Balls Found

If I were not in this fire lookout tower for three more weeks, I'd be in NYC. My US Airways pension was stolen by these motherfuckers on March 31, 2003. They leveraged my pension money into their pockets by invoking 9/11.

Mac
Air Line Pilots Association (AFL-CIO)
Central Air Safety Committee
Airline Accident Investigator

[No Elephants]

48. UNION!

[plumbob]

50. Excellent! More like this, please!

[DocMac]

51. I milled and grinded specialty steel for 5 years

I was there when automation took those jobs...saw grown men cry!

So what is next? When does it end? My patience is thin!

[PatrynXX]

52. hopefully the liberals in hiding hear the call

Up until this 2009's congress usually the Dems pay off the Republicans bills. hasn't happened yet.

[whathehell]

57. YESSS!!

[Overseas]

60. K&R. Yes please!

[Odin2005]

61. SOLIDARITY!

[mother earth]

63. May the unions rise & grow for we the people! :) Lovin this.

Solidarity!!!!!:yourock:

[jwirr]

64. That is my daughter's union. Good.

[patrice]

65. American steel has suffered horrenduously! Even the new WTC is made with Chinese steel AND glass.

[Shining Jack]

66. K&R n/t

[colsohlibgal]

67. Could This Be It?

The Banksters and big money have been controlling the US (and the world) way too long, long enough say a rising number of us and it's great to see.

Let's keep the momentum going, HERE WE GO!

[pam4water]

68. Yaaahhhhhh

[workinclasszero]

69. I love the Steel workers!

A great union!:toast: :hug:

The 99 are coming together!:grouphug:

[Majikthise]

70. Todd Palin was a United Steelworkers Shop Steward

In Prudhoe Bay when he worked for BP. He was extremely pro-union when I worked there. Do you think we can count on ol' Todd to join the Occupy Wall Street crowd? Surely the money, power, fame, prestige and luxury have not tainted his idealism? :sarcasm:

[defendandprotect]

71. kr

[Jefferson23]

73. Great news, join the crowd. K&R. n/t