Unions fend off Occupy Wall Street eviction

Tommy McAllister in the center.

The feared shutdown of Occupy Wall Street didn't happen this morning because Mayor Bloomberg didn't want to antagonize the union members there, our sources at OWS told us.

Union members, including Teamsters, showed up in droves early Friday morning to prevent the city from evicting the protesters. Reports the Huffington Post,

Thousands of pepole at Occupy Wall Street erupted into cheers early this morning when it was announced Brookefield properties was postponing the cleaning of Zucotti Park.

The cleaning, scheduled to start at 7AM, was perceived by many protesters as a ploy to evict them from the grounds. Last night, scores of volunteers took mops and brooms to the park in a plan to pre-empt Brookefield and city officials.

Thousands showed up at Zucotti early this morning before the sun had risen and practiced making a human chain to protect the park. They were ready for a confrontation with police and they were ready to be arrested.

But at about 6:30AM, Gothamist reports, a Direct Action rep turned on the "human microphone" and announced the good news.

The television cameras were drawn to Our Stop the War on Workers signs. (Look for them on the nightly news.) The photo above shows Tommy McAllister, a locked-out Sotheby's art handler with Local 814. He's manning the labor outreach table for Occupy Wall Street shortly after the eviction was called off.