US becomes a center of poverty-wage manufacturing
Going into its 16th day, the Occupy Wall Street protest is not only not fading out, it’s about to get a big injection of support, and bodies. The established New York City labor and community groups who normally organize local marches, rallies and sit-ins, have announced they plan to join up next week.
Crain’s reports that the groups include The United Federation of Teachers, 32BJ SEIU, 1199 SEIU, Workers United and Transport Workers Union Local 100. The Working Families Party will help organize it, and MoveOn.org will help promote it.
“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 told Crain’s.
“We’re not trying to grab the steering wheel or to control it,” Michael Kink, executive director of the Strong Economy For All coalition told Crain’s. “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.”
The executive board for the Transport Workers Union Local 100 which boasts roughly 38,000 bus and subway workers plus an additional 26,000 retirees, voted Wednesday night to support demonstrators, who have been camped out at Zuccotti Park near World Trade Center since September 17. According to spokesman Jim Ganon union invited its members to join Occupy Wall Street crowd for a march and rally at 4:30 P.M. on October 5th. The Working Families Party is also expected to participate in October 5th action according to spokesman T.J. Helmstetter.
With the full backing of the Obama administration, US and foreign-based corporations are exploiting levels of mass unemployment and poverty not seen since the Great Depression in order to transform the US into a cheap labor platform in direct competition with Mexico, China and other low-wage countries.
Using the threat of liquidation, the White House demanded the expansion of near poverty wages throughout the industry, stripped workers of the right to strike and demanded labor costs be kept in line with the Asian and European manufacturers operating non-union factories in the South. This has resulted in booming profits for the US-based automakers, which have, in turn, refused to provide any wage increases to workers while shoveling out tens of millions in executive bonuses.
