Occupy Oakland Demonstrators Plan General Strike Wednesday

Bay City News Service — Occupy Oakland organizers are calling for work stoppages, school walkouts and the closure of banks and corporations during a general strike and mass day of action that's planned for Wednesday.

Organizers held a news conference Monday at the intersection of Broadway and Telegraph Avenue in downtown Oakland, which was the center of the city's last general strike in 1946.

Tim Simmons of Occupy Oakland said demonstrations will converge at the corner of 14th Street and Broadway at three different times: 9 a.m., noon and 5 p.m.

Part of the action will involve a 5 p.m. march to the Port to Oakland to support longshore workers in Longview, Washington, who are involved in a labor dispute with the grain exporter EGT.

Joseph Haraburda, the president and chief executive of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, said he considers it threatening that Occupy Oakland posters and pamphlets state that "all banks and corporations must close down for the day or demonstrators will march on them."

Haraburda expressed frustration that the city's leadership hasn't clearly said how it will respond.

"What's the city going to do?" he said. "We need to hear a message from the city."

The office of Mayor Jean Quan issued a statement late Monday saying city offices and services will remain open on Wednesday, adding "we are not urging businesses to close."

Instead, businesses should "use common sense precautions," Quan's office said, describing this as "a fluid situation."

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