In a statement released this afternoon supporting the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says:
Occupy Wall Street has captured the imagination and passion of millions of Americans who have lost hope that our nation’s policymakers are speaking for them. We support the protesters in their determination to hold Wall Street accountable and create good jobs.
This evening in New York City, union members joined the Occupy Wall Street protestors—now in their third week camped in the heart of the financial district—and other activists for a Wall Street march and rally drawing several thousand. Says Trumka:
We are proud that today on Wall Street, bus drivers, painters, nurses and utility workers will join students and homeowners, the unemployed and the underemployed to call for fundamental change.
With the Occupy Wall Street mobilization gaining steam in cities across the country, Trumka says the labor movement “will open our union halls and community centers as well as our arms and our hearts to those with the courage to stand up and demand a better America.”
Click the video for Trumka’s full statement.
Not everyone can pay for the news. But if you can, we need your support.
Truthout is widely read among people with lower incomes and among young people who are mired in debt. Our site is read at public libraries, among people without internet access of their own. People print out our articles and send them to family members in prison — we receive letters from behind bars regularly thanking us for our coverage. Our stories are emailed and shared around communities, sparking grassroots mobilization.
We’re committed to keeping all Truthout articles free and available to the public. But in order to do that, we need those who can afford to contribute to our work to do so — especially now, because we only have hours left to raise over $9,000 in critical funds.
We’ll never require you to give, but we can ask you from the bottom of our hearts: Will you donate what you can, so we can continue providing journalism in the service of justice and truth?