CWA DISTRICT ONE STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF OCCUPY WALL STREET DEMONSTRATIONS

Contact: Bob Master, 212-344-2515 or 917-657-6483 Yesterday, the National Executive Board of the Communications Workers of America voted unanimously to endorse the Occupy Wall Street protests that began three weeks ago in New York and have now spread to cities across the country. Tomorrow, our members will join with thousands of New Yorkers who are taking to the streets for the labor and community day of solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement.  Martin Luther King famously wrote after the Montgomery bus boycott that Rosa Parks’ pivotal role in the historic struggle for civil rights came because she “had been tracked down by the zeitgeist—the spirit of the time.”   He meant that the time for a civil rights revolution had come, and that Rosa Parks, by her simple act of sitting down in a Montgomery bus, became the embodiment of that urgent movement. The young people who have Occupied Zuccotti Park have captured the spirit of our times. They have given voice to the frustration that Americans feel after watching Wall Street recklessness and greed destroy our economy, and millions of jobs along with it. They have tapped the anger of those who have watched Washington shower billions in bailouts on Wall Street, while ignoring the jobs crisis on Main Street; corporations ring up record profits while middle-class jobs disappear; and taxes slashed again and again for the wealthy while income inequality soars.  At CWA, we have seen these same forces first hand. Verizon and Verizon Wireless, which make billions in profits and use loopholes to avoid paying federal corporate income taxes, have proposed destroying middle class jobs of 45,000 workers – even as the pay and bonuses for their top executives grows to the hundreds of millions.  Like the protests in Madison, the Occupy Wall Street activists have used courage, creativity, and social media to create an urgently needed movement. We are proud to stand with them, and join them in the streets. 

Yesterday, the National Executive Board of the Communications Workers of America voted unanimously to endorse the Occupy Wall Street protests that began three weeks ago in New York and have now spread to cities across the country. Tomorrow, our members will join with thousands of New Yorkers who are taking to the streets for the labor and community day of solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement. 

Martin Luther King famously wrote after the Montgomery bus boycott that Rosa Parks’ pivotal role in the historic struggle for civil rights came because she “had been tracked down by the zeitgeist—the spirit of the time.”   He meant that the time for a civil rights revolution had come, and that Rosa Parks, by her simple act of sitting down in a Montgomery bus, became the embodiment of that urgent movement.

The young people who have Occupied Zuccotti Park have captured the spirit of our times. They have given voice to the frustration that Americans feel after watching Wall Street recklessness and greed destroy our economy, and millions of jobs along with it. They have tapped the anger of those who have watched Washington shower billions in bailouts on Wall Street, while ignoring the jobs crisis on Main Street; corporations ring up record profits while middle-class jobs disappear; and taxes slashed again and again for the wealthy while income inequality soars. 

At CWA, we have seen these same forces first hand. Verizon and Verizon Wireless, which make billions in profits and use loopholes to avoid paying federal corporate income taxes, have proposed destroying middle class jobs of 45,000 workers – even as the pay and bonuses for their top executives grows to the hundreds of millions. 

Like the protests in Madison, the Occupy Wall Street activists have used courage, creativity, and social media to create an urgently needed movement. We are proud to stand with them, and join them in the streets.