This means making sure there is low business tax and low wages in Oakland.
Occupy Oakland has been mounting campaigns that are the antithesis of their stated priority. We want, among other things, for their to be high wages in Oakland. The General Strike was a show of power that says that we definitely have a useful tool for negotiating higher wages- withholding our labor.
As you see from the city's press conference, many of Oakland's public officials are heavily influenced by the Chamber Of Commerce.
But, who is the Chamber Of Commerce?
Who do they actually work for?
Their website reveals that their "Platinum Chairman's Circle" consists of Bank Of America, Wells Fargo, Clorox, Kaiser, The Port Of Oakland, and PG&E. These are their top funders. The have a lower level of funders which are also large corporations. On the CoC's member list, their highest number of businesses is banks. They have 38 of them. Bakery's and cafe's? They have one of each.
They don't represent small business in Oakland, they represent big business. They want Occupy Oakland out because we may change wealth relationships in Oakland. This is the truth of it.
You ever wonder why there are all these giant corporations in Oakland, yet wages are so low for most Oaklanders? The Chamber Of Commerce is part of the reason.
You ever wonder why we have these giant corporations= making hundreds of millions in profit- like Clorox, Kaiser, and The Port Of Oakland, and Oakland has so little tax revenue from them to run our schools and public services? The Chamber Of Commerce is part of the reason.
As I stated before, business in Downtown Oakland is up, if anything, due to Occupy Oakland. Any cursory glance at the actual businesses there will tell you that. And Occupy Oakland also has a small business liason committee that has the support of many of the small, point-of-purchase businesses there. But that's not what this is about. The city, led by the Chamber Of Commerce- who is controlled by big business, is wanting to evict Occupy Oakland because they disagree with our general political goals.
Anything else they put forward as their reasoning is just to distract from the origin of their real intentions.
Don't believe the hype.
http://www.oaklandchamber.com/
www.oaklandchamber.com
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