United Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard has a message to the flea party whiny-whiners still camping out instead of sleeping in their parents' basements -- playtime is over.
Just in case the Occupy movement fails -- in other words, when it fails -- Gerard is urging union members to fill that gaping void with "more militancy." (audio clips after page break)
Here's a clip of Gerard making a pitch for this on Ed Schultz's radio show Monday and actually making Schultz sound reasonable by comparison (audio) --
GERARD: You're damn right Wall Street occupiers speak for us. They do in Pittsburgh, they do in Chicago, they do in Oakland, they do in San Francisco, they do all across the country. And I think what we need is, we need more militancy.
SCHULTZ: What does that mean, more militancy?
GERARD: I think we've got to start a resistance movement. If Wall Street occupation doesn't get the message, I think we've got to start blocking bridges and doing that kind of stuff. This doesn't have to be this way. The economy doesn't have to be this way. It's being put this way because the Wall Streeters are getting their way.
Gerard upped the ante minutes later, suggesting that unions go beyond "blocking bridges" (audio) --
Then we lost the House 'cause the House got blamed for what the Senate didn't do and now we got a bunch of right-wing nutjobs running the House of Representatives. And in the last period of time, what do we got now, almost two years, a year and a half, that the only thing they've done is bring forward social bills, they haven't brought forward one jobs bill, not one jobs bill, Ed, not one jobs bill and that's what they ran on.
And no wonder people are occupying. We oughta be doing more than occupying parks. We oughta start occupying bridges. We start oughta occupying the banks places themselves. I mean, I just think that this is nuts.
Yes -- "we start oughta occupying the banks places themselves," along with an exaggerated timeframe since Republicans regained the House and the oft-repeated lie of alleged GOP indifference to jobs legislation. Schultz's less than hardy endorsement in response --
SCHULTZ: Mr. Gerard, always a pleasure, keep up the fight, always enjoy visiting with you on the issues of the day and what's happening. It's, uh ...
GERARD (sensing Schultz's lack of enthusiasm): We can never give up, Ed, we can never give up 'cause we're right.
SCHULTZ: We are correct on the issues, no doubt. United Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard here on the Ed Schultz radio show, telling the truth again ...
Perhaps after union members are released on bail following their arrests for occupying bridges and banks and, in the process, harming countless working people just trying to do their jobs, they might want to consider occupying the offices of amply compensated union leaders, including Gerard.
