US unions voice support for Occupy Wall Street

Many major US unions express support for the countrywide protests at the dire economic situation, which have been raging on under the banner ‘Occupy Wall Street’ (OWS).

The Transit Workers Union (TWU) said that all its 38,000 members had voted unanimously to support and join the OWS demonstrators, British newspaper The Guardian reported on Tuesday. The union also said it was seeking an injunction to stop the New York Police Department (NYPD) from forcing bus drivers to carry arrested protesters.

Fueled by the economic insecurity in the country, the rallies started on Wall Street, New York on September 17.

Protesters say they are demonstrating against high unemployment, home foreclosures, and 2008 corporate bailouts among other things, while mainly raising objection to ‘corporate greed.’

The 700,000-strong Communication Workers of America (CWA) and Operational Weather Squadron (OWS) also endorsed the campaign, describing it as an “appropriate expression of anger for all Americans, but especially for those who have been left behind by Wall Street.”

The unions together with the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and other such outfits will join protesters, who plan to march on City Hall in New York on Thursday.

Promising protests for Thursday in Washington, DC, organizer, Kevin Zeese, said, “Just like the Vietnam war draft made the war more personal, economic insecurity is making the economic policies of this country more personal.”

The National Nurses United (NNU) has said its members would join the Washington protests to “demand human needs over corporate greed.”

There have so far been over 700 arrests and scenes of police brutality have occurred before the eyes of the angry people and broadcast through national and international media.