Veteran Agitators Flock to Occupy Wall Street

     City's biggest unions, community groups queue up to
     join the fight as young amateurs using Facebook and
     Twitter make more waves than the pros.

By Daniel Massey
September 29, 2011
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110929/FINANCE/110929865#ixzz1ZN3iMirB

The city's most experienced agitators-the labor and
community groups that typically organize local marches,
rallies and sit-ins-have been largely missing from the
Occupy Wall Street protest that is in its 13th day at
Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan.

But that's about to change.

A loose coalition of labor and community groups said
Thursday that they would join the protest next week.
They are organizing a solidarity march scheduled for
Wednesday that is expected to start at City Hall and
finish a few blocks south at Zuccotti Park.

"It's a responsibility for the progressive organizations
in town to show their support and connect Occupy Wall
Street to some of the struggles that are real in the
city today," said Jon Kest, executive director of New
York Communities for Change, which is helping to
organize the march. "They're speaking about issues we're
trying to speak about."

Despite the common cause, the city's established left
did not initially embrace the protest, which began Sept.
17 and has been made up mostly of young people angry
about the widening income chasm in the country, the
growing influence of money on politics and police
brutality, among other issues.

But as the action nears the start of its third week,
unions and community groups are eager to jump on board.
They are motivated perhaps by a sense of solidarity and
a desire to tap into its growing success, but
undoubtedly by something else too-embarrassment that a
group of young people using Twitter and Facebook have
been able to draw attention to progressive causes in a
way they haven't been able to in years.

The protestors have transformed the park into a village
of sorts, complete with a community kitchen, a library,
a concert stage, an arts and crafts center and a media
hub. All of that has enabled them not just to sustain
the action but to build momentum. And as celebrities
like Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Russell Simmons and
Cornel West have joined in, the city's traditional
activists have been forced to jump into the fray.

The protestors have transformed the park into a village
of sorts, complete with a community kitchen, a library,
a concert stage, an arts and crafts center and a media
hub.

"It's become too big to ignore," said one political
consultant.

Some of the biggest players in organized labor are
actively involved in planning for Wednesday's
demonstration, either directly or through coalitions
that they are a part of. The United Federation of
Teachers, 32BJ SEIU, 1199 SEIU, Workers United and
Transport Workers Union Local 100 are all expected to
participate. The Working Families Party is helping to
organize the protest and MoveOn.org is expected to
mobilize its extensive online regional networks to drum
up support for the effort.

"We're getting involved because the crisis was caused by
the excesses of Wall Street and the consequences have
fallen hardest on workers," a spokesman for TWU Local
100 said.

Community groups like Make the Road New York, the
Coalition for the Homeless, the Alliance for Quality
Education and Community Voices Heard are also organizing
for Wednesday's action, and the labor/community
coalitions United New York and Strong Economy For All
are pitching in as well.

Signs and chants will likely call for an extension of
the so-called millionaires' tax and a roll-back of state
budget cuts. They will also likely show support for New
York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's position that
a proposed settlement between banks and attorneys
general over troubled mortgage pools is too lenient.

Organizers of the march said they aren't looking to take
control of the Occupy Wall Street protest, which has
captured headlines since it began nearly two weeks ago,
but add to it.

"We're not trying to grab the steering wheel or to
control it," said Michael Kink, executive director of
the Strong Economy For All coalition. "We're looking to
find common cause and support the effort. It's the right
fight at the right time and we want to be part of it."

Read more:
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110929/FINANCE/110929865#ixzz1ZT9e2NKR

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