The Past and Future of American Labor Workers

And as we walked through the park, listened to the speeches, and marched with union members, unemployed workers, indebted students, and worried middle-class professionals, we noticed that the themes of Labor Rising were reverberating throughout. Activists, more pouring in each day, are connecting with protesters across the country and around the globe, continuing to construct a global movement. Through the “occupation” of the park, they consciously build a democratic space open to all, dominated by no one person or group. They are building coalitions among all groups with common grievances. The demands for government and corporate accountability to the “99 percent” of the people who are disenfranchised from the political system in the United States and around the world are being articulated clearly. And as unions help to swell the crowds and grow the movement, we see concrete hope for labor’s rise in the twenty-first century.

Copyright © 2012 by Daniel Katz and Richard A. Greenwald. This piece originally appeared in Labor Rising: The Past and Future of Working People in America edited by Daniel Katz and Richard A. Greenwald, published by The New Press. Reprinted here with permission.