NYC Transit Union Joins Occupy Wall Street

HuffPost: New York City labor unions are preparing to back the unwieldy grassroots band occupying a park in Lower Manhattan, in a move that could mark a significant shift in the tenor of the anti-corporate Occupy Wall Street protests and send thousands more people into the streets.

The Transit Workers Union Local 100's executive committee, which oversees the organization of subway and bus workers, voted unanimously Wednesday night to support the protesters. The union claims 38,000 members. A union-backed organizing coalition, which orchestrated a large May 12 march on Wall Street before the protests, is planning a rally on Oct. 5 in explicit support. And SEIU 32BJ, which represents doormen, security guards and maintenance workers, is using its Oct. 12 rally to express solidarity with the Zuccotti Park protesters.

"The call went out over a month ago, before actually the occupancy of Wall Street took place," said 32BJ spokesman Kwame Patterson. Now, he added, "we're all coming under one cause, even though we have our different initiatives."

The protests found... READ ON

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Thousands are still gathered in New York’s financial district Sunday as part of the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstration called for by Adbusters, Anonymous and other anti-corporate groups. Wall Street itself was cordoned off and police blocked the entrance to the New York Stock Exchange. Watch the LIVE STREAM of the protest.

The demonstrators aim to call attention to the “economic occupation” of moneyed interests and big banks. Those who showed up Sunday were far fewer than the crowd of 20,000 the organizers hope to see camped out in lower Manhattan over the coming months. WATCH the vid from DemocracyNow! and read more.