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Protesters march at Occupy Boston. credit: The Boston Globe

Occupy XX: Where We Stand

If you ask a dozen people at a dozen different Occupy protests why they’re standing in the rain or sleeping in a tent or eating muffins from a bag handed over by a stranger—what point they’re trying to make or what they’re hoping to accomplish by all of it—you’ll likely get a baker’s dozen of answers.

If you ask, as the media recently have, if specific policy demands should be expressed by the Occupy movement, you’ll get thousands of opinions and two very specific answers—yes, and no—holding about 50 percent sway apiece.

Occupy Chicago has produced a list of demands proposed for a vote; it’s as specific as “reinstate Glass-Steagall” and as nebulous as “investigate and prosecute Wall Street criminals.” It contains arguably doable demands, like closing corporate tax loopholes, and arguably pie-in-the-sky ideas, like forgiving all student debt.

In all of this, where exactly does NAGE—a union of great diversity, of political thought at both extremes and everywhere in between, and of members who constitute both the protesters and the public safety officers protecting their rights to assembly and free speech—stand?

NAGE stands where we have always stood. Our demands are for dignity, fairness, equity, and the right to earn a livable wage. We share the outrage and frustration that has driven protesters to Occupy encampments. We don’t believe that we can be a great nation with a gaping hole between the haves and the have-nots and with a level of income inequality that hasn’t been matched in four decades. We will continue to support the peaceful demonstrations that are forcing the media to take notice and to report that this movement is growing in size and strength and focus.

NAGE members are participating in towns and cities across the country and have joined with organized labor wherever they are organized. In Boston, we marched through the streets to demand jobs for the unemployed and to let Bank of America know that charging $5 a month to use a debit card is among the most egregious recent displays of corporate greed and disrespect. In New York City, we have donated food to Occupy Wall Street and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with airline pilots and teachers. In smaller towns, we have gone as individuals to events and standouts and marches.

NAGE will continue to do what we’ve always done, whether through negotiating good contracts or attending rallies: we will demand dignity, fairness, and respect to create a more just and humane society.