I suppose they have to since the whole world is watching.
"Unions turn out to support Occupy Boston protesters" by John M. Guilfoil Globe Staff / October 14, 2011
Several days after more than 100 of its protesters were arrested for refusing to leave a large section of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, Occupy Boston get a boost yesterday when unions turned out to support the wave of unrest sweeping the country.
Hundreds of union leaders and rank-and-file members - including teachers, steelworkers, nurses, and electrical workers - joined the protesters, who are criticizing Wall Street excesses and social inequality, at Dewey Square in Boston’s Financial District....
The addition of labor to the fold added not only numbers but also structure to the protest, which has been going on for about two weeks. The group held a rally at 4 p.m. yesterday and led a march to Downtown Crossing.
I've had it with the misrepresentations and distortions of the Boston Globe.
The march was escorted by police, who blocked streets for the protesters, marking a dramatic improvement in relations after 141 protesters were arrested early Tuesday morning....
See: Globe Blesses Boston Protests
While most of the union support was new, some members had already been part of the cause.
“I’ve been down here since day one, in the mud,’’ said Jason Chambers, 27, a journeyman iron worker in Local 7. “We practice 100 percent nonviolence, but we also love to raise hell.’’
Some of the most vocal union members were from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and who cited their recent two-week strike against Verizon Communications as an example of the inequality and problems that plague America’s working class.
The union said Verizon is about to announce a $2 billion quarterly profit, while employees are working without a contract....
That's QUARTERLY, folks!! That means in THREE MONTHS!
Also see: Verizon Workers Win Strike
Looking Over the Verizon On Jobs
The rally peaked around 5 p.m., as hundreds of Financial District workers were coming out of the surrounding towers at the end of the work day. Many ignored the procession, while others took pictures. A few even cheered on the protesters....
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Related:
Move On Tries to Take Over Occupy Wall Street Protests
An Insidious Threat to the Occupy Movement
When the paper promotes you it is an attempt to nudge the agenda.
And about those financial district workers:
"Financial District takes measure of the protests" by Todd Wallack Globe Staff / October 14, 2011
When Occupy Boston protesters complain about greedy bankers, corporate jets, and the wealthiest Americans, Henry Helgeson feels as if he is one of the prime targets.
Helgeson, 37, said he is not only in the top 1 percent of American earners, but also founded a financial company and an airplane charter business. He said the protesters don’t seem to care that he built his wealth from scratch, creating hundreds of jobs along the way.
“It’s a little disheartening,’’ said Helgeson, who drives by the protesters every day to and from his office at Merchant Warehouse Inc., a credit card processing firm in downtown Boston. “I’m someone who is at the epicenter of perceived evilness.’’
Helgeson’s perspective is part of the view from the other side of the protests aimed at the financial industry, where many depend on banking, investment, and other services for a living. This week in Boston’s Financial District, where protesters have built their tent city, the reaction to the demonstration ran the gamut - from anger to admiration.
Some praised the protesters for their gumption. Some said they were just ignoring them. But others said their industry has been unfairly blamed for the nation’s financial woes.
Christine Bizzaro, 43, a senior banker for a Citizens Bank branch across from the protest, said she was offended by many of the signs targeting bankers. She was unemployed for 13 months. Then she found a job at a bank.
In addition to jobs, banks provide vital services that almost everyone uses.
“What would you do without a bank?’’ Bizzaro asked. “You’re going to have your boss pay you in cash? Because you can’t cash a check anywhere without a bank.’’
The protesters have occupied a small park across from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston for about two weeks, one of scores of protests across the country that are rallying against what participants see as corporate greed, income inequality, and other economic problems. Except for a clash with police early Tuesday morning - when police arrested about 140 people for squatting on a second section of land on the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway - the demonstration has been largely peaceful.
Devon Pendleton, a spokesman for the protesters, said participants are prepared to occupy the square indefinitely, even though they have not settled on a unified list of goals. Pendleton said the situation was best summed up with a sign he saw one activist holding: “It’s not that we’re disorganized. It’s that America has a lot of problems.’’
Frank Spindler, 30, a strategist for an investment management firm, said some protesters had valid concerns, adding that he hoped the demonstrations would spur politicians in Washington to stop bickering and address the nation’s problems.
“A lot of people are frustrated for good reason,’’ said Spindler,who works in his company’s Boston office. “People want jobs.’’
He said he also understood why people, many unemployed and struggling, are angry about the huge salaries on Wall Street and in the financial industry. But, he said, not everyone in the financial industry is a “fat cat.’’
John Holland, who handles regulatory compliance for investment advisers, said he is just trying to support his family like everyone else. He’s married with three children.
“If it wasn’t for Wall Street, I’d be out of a job,’’ said Holland, 40, of Westwood.
But many said they were puzzled about what the protesters want and what they hope to achieve.
At this point I've really had it with the corporate insults.
Jennifer Eustance, 29, is a trader and analyst for Emerson Investment Management, a Boston firm that manages money for small institutions and people with more than $1 million in assets. Eustance, who handles both stocks and bonds, said the bus she takes to work passes by the protesters’ camp every day, but she is still not sure how many people are there. At 8 a.m., she said, most are still asleep in their tents.
“It’s seems to be pretty unorganized as far as their objectives,’’ said Eustance, a Boston College graduate. “I don’t really understand what is getting accomplished by them camping out.’’
Charles Engle, 25, who works in the internal audit group for a Boston financial services company, said he understood the frustration with the sour economy, but he, too, was unclear about the protesters’ goals.
“I get that they don’t want to appoint a leader and make any official statements to get pigeonholed,’’ said Engle, who passes by the protest daily. “Overall, I don’t know how effective it is going to be.’’
And how effective will efforts be to revive the economy if entrepreneurs who take risks and create jobs are demonized for their wealth, said Helgeson, the founder of two companies. Today, he said, his earnings put him in the top 1 percent of all Americans. He was probably in the bottom 10 percent 13 years ago, when he started Merchant Warehouse with a college friend in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
He said he often did not have money to pay rent for his apartment. And when his decade-old Dodge broke down, he had to watch it get towed away and impounded, because he didn’t have money to repair it.
Today, Merchant Warehouse has 250 employees in Boston, many of whom are about the same age of the protesters, and 400 independent contractors. Helgeson said he also cofounded 26 North Aviation Inc., a jet charter firm in Allentown, Pa., that provides jobs for mechanics and pilots.
“These are jobs that wouldn’t be around if we didn’t build the company,’’ Hegelson said. “I see a lot of signs that are anti-greed, but that is capitalism. People try to make money.’’
Greed is capitalism, huh?
And you wonder why they are out there?
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Meanwhile, down in New York:
"N.Y. protesters suspicious of plan to clean occupied park" by M. Barr Verena Dobnik Associated Press / October 14, 2011
NEW YORK - The owner of the private park where Wall Street protesters are camped out gave them notice yesterday that after it power-washes the space, it will begin enforcing the park’s regulations, which prohibit things such as lying down on benches and storing personal property on the ground.
The protesters’ response was to plan a demonstration for an hour before they are supposed to evacuate Zuccotti Park while it is cleaned this morning. They believe the effort is an attempt to end the protest, which triggered a movement against unequal distribution of wealth that has spread across the globe.
Protest spokesman Patrick Bruner sent an e-mail to supporters yesterday, asking them to join the protesters at 6 a.m. today to defend the occupation from eviction.
The park’s owner, Brookfield Properties, had earlier handed out a notice to protesters, saying they would be allowed back in the park after the cleanup if they abide by park regulations.
The notice lists several regulations, which prohibit placing tents, tarps, or sleeping bags on the ground; lying on benches; and storing personal property on the ground. All those practices have been common at the park, where protesters have lived, slept, and eaten for nearly a month.
“They’re going to use the cleanup to get us out of here,’’ said Justin Wedes, 25, a part-time public high school science teacher from Brooklyn. “It’s a de facto eviction notice.’’
Police officers escorted representatives of the company as the notices were passed out to demonstrators.
The article didn't say anything about it, but Mayor Bloomberg is being called a bully.
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Related: Park Cleanup Is Canceled, and Showdown Averted
Also see: NYPD EPIC FAIL at Intimidating Journalists
Looks like you protesters are about to get beaten and gassed.
Wall Street Occupation Goes Global Saturday
I might even go down to the Town Common tomorrow.
