Thousands of New Yorkers gathered in Union Square today for a Day of Action in support of worker's rights. The rally follows one on the 17th July in support of staff from Consolidated Edison, an energy company here in New York. The company had been in contract talks with its 8,500 unionised staff but talks broke down and staff were locked out and haven't been able to work since. Despite the fact that the company made more than 1 billion dollars in profit last year, they want to cut the wages, pensions and healthcare provisions of their staff. While I was standing and watching the rally a man sidled up to me and asked if I agreed with the protest. I responded that you'd either have to be very rich or very stupid not to, luckily he was neither, so I didn't get shouted at. Phew. Con Ed staff were joined by workers from all over the city, protesting about low wages and substandard benefits. The 99% are revolting again, y'all.

I've also never seen anyone make Unions seem cool before. It annoys me how much cooler Americans are than us Brits. If I was at a similar event in the UK I may have sighed and wandered off at the news that someone had written a rap about Trade Unions. Instead I raised my camera high in the air and filmed it for you. The rap starts about a minute in, even the woman is cool, despite messing up her part a little. The bald white guy clearly isn't cool, but he is playing the part of the 1%, so I think he's just pretending.

Apart from being cool, the New Yoikers also love their religion. Like, really love it. I don't know why this comes as a surprise to me, what with being in the USA. I just tend to think of the big cities as somehow separate to the rest of the country. Personally, I don't understand the role of religion at a protest like this, but I am in the minority. Behold, many Religions, all in support of the 99%.

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