#OWS and the Young Trade Unionists

[Omaha Steve]

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/nowak221111.html

by Mark Nowak


Cory McCray, Founder of the Young Trade Unionists, and George Hendricks, Baltimore Teachers Union (BTU) Rep and Vice President of the Young Trade Unionists (YTU)


If you head down to the IBEW Local 24 Union Hall Auditorium on W. Patapsco Avenue in Baltimore on the first Tuesday of any month, you'll encounter a meeting of an energetic group of young union members from the Metro Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area. The Young Trade Unionists (YTU) was founded in November 2009 by Cory McCray, a graduate of both the Baltimore City Public School System and the five-year apprenticeship program of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Participants in the YTU include young workers from the IBEW, UFCW, teachers' unions, building trades, public employees' and other sectors.

On the heels of the massive rally and march across the Brooklyn Bridge last week -- and coinciding with the arrival of Occupy Wall Street (#OWS) marchers in Washington, D.C., today and Wednesday's "day of action" in DC -- I spoke with McCray about the ways in which the #OWS movement and young workers today might deepen their bonds. McCray participated in this past weekend's 28th Biennial Convention of the Maryland State and District of Columbia AFL-CIO, where membership passed a resolution for its members to treat occupy sites in DC and Baltimore as they would a formal picket line.

MR: How have young workers in Baltimore and all of Maryland been perceiving, and talking about, the Occupy Wall Street movement?

Cory McCray: Amongst young workers, it's something that's definitely supported due to the fact that in Baltimore, as young workers, we've seen multipliers for pension programs go up, we've seen the cost of low wages and manufacturing jobs going overseas and numerous other actions that have been taken, not only amongst workers in general but young workers that have been affected the most. I attended the State Federation conference this weekend, AFL-CIO, and one of the actions that the Young Trade Unionists proposed from the Baltimore side was to show solidarity at a meeting on December 6 at McKeldin Square.

FULL story at link.