Labor Watch

Unions Heart Occupy Wall Street


Unions have provided Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protestors with resources including office space, photocopying services and food, in exchange for the activists “…pitching in to help unions ratchet up action against several New York firms involved in labor disputes with workers,” according to the Washington Post.  AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka explained: “Our members have been trying to have this discussion about Wall Street and the economy for a long time…this movement is providing us the vehicle.” In addition, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) agreed to print an edition of OWS’s newspaper, the Occupied Wall Street Journal.  SEIU 1199 president George Gresham hopes that the increasing collaborations “will eventually push the activists toward a focus on the 2012 election.”