In late September TWU Local 100 rallied behind filmmaker Michael Moore in a march down Wall Street, a prevalent setting in Moore’s new movie, “Capitalism: A Love Story.” They were there to promote the message of the film, one that Moore and leaders of the Labor Movement have been advocating for decades: capitalism cannot override democracy and take precedence over the welfare of the American people, and corporate greed has no place in this country.

Moore’s film will be released in theaters on October 2, a fitting time, as it has been almost exactly one year since several major Wall Street banks failed and were consequently bailed out by the federal government.

At the September rally, the excitement mounted as Local 100 members chanted, “Wall Street greed has got to go,” to lead up to Moore’s speech.

“We are here in this canyon of buildings that contain the men who have stolen from the American people,” said Moore. “[They took people’s money,] pension funds, took it, they gambled with it, they placed bets on that money, then they placed bets on the bets, then they took out insurance against it, credit default swaps, derivatives, all this nonsense.”

The years of financial irresponsibility on Wall Street and the lack of oversight in Bush’s Washington has crippled the economy and left millions of Americans in distressing situations - foreclosures, lay-offs and unemployment, homelessness, lost pensions, and more.

To the crowd’s cheers of angered agreement Moore explained that not only is the American public suffering from these greedy mistakes, but that future generations will undoubtedly have to foot the bill.

Towards the end of his speech Moore encouraged the crowd to take part in democracy and to be a valuable part of decisions that are made on the public’s behalf. “Democracy is not a spectator sport,” he said, “it only works when we are all involved. Get off the bench, get in the game.”