Teamsters are rushing to join the Occupation movement as it spreads across the country. No one should be surprised; Local 814 was the first union to join the Occupy Wall Street protest in Lower Manhattan.
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| Local 507 President Al Mixon in Cleveland. |
Teamsters rallied with Occupy Cleveland yesterday. The
BBC reported,
Five hundred miles from Wall Street, a crowd of roughly 200 marched on downtown Cleveland, in the mid-western US state of Ohio.
After three hours of speeches, folk songs and group discussions, protesters for Occupy Cleveland marched past city hall to a public square.
It is one of the latest manifestations of protests against corporate power and income inequality - all stemming from a continuing demonstration in New York City called Occupy Wall Street.
In Portland, Me., the
Bangor Daily News noticed Teamsters at an Occupy Maine encampment today and quoted Kenneth Eaton, president of Teamsters Local 340:
The corporate lobbyists and Wall Street bankers need to be reined in and held accountable for the impact they’ve had on our economy. Businesses and banks need to loosen up some of those trillions of dollars they’re sitting on to create jobs. The grievances of the 99 percent are the same grievances that we have and that our brothers and sisters have in the labor movement. The 1 percent should listen to Warren Buffet when he says to tax the wealthy more.
In Philadelphia, reported
Reuters,
...up to 1,000 protesters chanted and waved placards reading: "I did not think 'By the People, For the People' meant 1 percent," a reference to their argument the country's top few have too much wealth and political power.
"This is the beginning," said John Preston in Philadelphia, business manager for Teamsters Local 929. "Teamsters will support the movement city to city."
Teamsters took part in Occupy Sacramento, according to
The Sacramento Bee:
Gathering in the morning drizzle, they chanted about democracy, carried signs that read "Save the Middle Class" and vowed to risk arrest by "occupying" Cesar Chavez Plaza in violation of Sacramento's ordinance against camping in undesignated areas.
"This is what democracy looks like!" they shouted in unison as they snaked through the streets of downtown Sacramento, trailed by a small army of police officers...
Members of an eclectic group of Sacramento protesters wearing everything from Abercrombie sweat shirts to Harley-Davidson jackets to Teamsters blazers offered few specifics.
Teamsters Occupied Nashville, according to the
Tennessean:
Occupy Nashville drew several hundred demonstrators to Legislative Plaza for an hour and a half of speeches, songs, group chants and shared anxiety over the state America finds itself in today. Participants swapped stories about layoffs, lost health-care coverage, multiple deployments to the battlefronts, crippling student loan debts, and, most of all, a growing suspicion that their government cares more about corporate money than it does about them...
It was a predominantly young crowd, although the mix included families with young children, Teamsters, activists in Guy Fawkes masks, and some of Nashville’s seasoned activists.
Sandy Shaddock, business agent for Local 445, marched on Wall Street Wednesday. She saw hundreds of Teamsters in the massive crowd. She said the protest was peaceful and remarkably civil.
It was amazing. I've been to other marches and rallies. But you're in New York with tons of people, a fast-paced city, and if someone bumps into you, even with a backpack, they apologized.
Shaddock took her 12-year-old daughter out of school that day to march. She told her she'd learn a lot more in Lower Manhattan that day than she would at school.
Our kids need to learn to stand up and fight.
Amen, sister.
