Theme of SEIU Convention? Occupy's 99%

Katie Pavlich | May 23, 2012 12:59 PM

SEIU recently posted a series of pro-Occupy tweets on their official Twitter page and even have a new "99% project":

The tweets come just two weeks after it was reported first by the Washington Examiner that SEIU is paying $4,000 per month for occupiers to have an office space in downtown Washington D.C.

A labor union with strong ties to President Obama is helping make the Occupy Wall Street movement a more permanent fixture in the nation's capital, moving Occupy DC into office space the group can use to organize and grow through the presidential election.

The Service Employees International Union, one of Obama's most vocal supporters among labor groups, is paying $4,000 a month for three offices the Occupy protesters will use for at least the next six months to plan future demonstrations, organize and host workshops.

The offices are at the Institute for Policy Studies, a nonprofit progressive group headquartered at 16th and L streets NW, amid the major law firms, trade groups and lobbying shops that Occupiers have spent the past seven months denouncing. The offices are just a short distance from the tent city Occupy DC established in McPherson Square in October.

Occupiers using the space told me that breaking windows and burning cop cars isn't violence.

The office is just blocks from the White House and just down the street from AFL-CIO, whose President Richard Trumka has also fully embraced the "99%" Not to mention, the tweets also came during violent clashes between Occupiers and Chicago police during the NATO summit last weekend.

The Occupiers were upset and felt "betrayed" by a Washington Examiner article about their new office space, calling it unprofessional and inaccurate. They said SEIU is paying for their office space, but that they are in no way working for President Obama or the unions and that they absolutely refuse to be co-opted.

President Obama still hasn't retracted his support for the Occupy Movement.