The Alameda Labor Council and California Labor Federation are standing in solidarity with Occupy Oakland’s Nov. 2 Day of Action. In a message to activists, council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Josie Camacho says working families are “inspired by the spirit of the fight against Wall Street.”

This Day of Action will be a public demonstration of support for the right to peaceably assembly without interference, and against the growing wealth and income inequality created by Wall Street and the actions of the richest 1 percent.

Along with encouraging noontime worksite actions and joining the 5 p.m. PDT mobilization at Oakland City hall, the labor council and its affiliates will hold a “cookout” to feed everyone taking part.

Last week, police used tear gas to disperse Occupy Oakland protesters and arrested dozens. They have since been allowed to return. But authorities have shut down Occupy actions and arrested protesters in other cities, including Atlanta; Chicago;  Richmond, Va.; Rochester, N.Y.; and other cities. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says it is a:

tremendous  dishonor to America when the voices for the powerless are suppressed by the powerful—the top 1 percent.

Occupy movements continue to stay strong across the nation. In Montana, union members joined Occupy Helena protesters in a march and rally. Says Montana State AFL-CIO Executive Secretary Al Ekblad:

Occupy Wall Street is students, workers, people of faith, seniors and many more coming together to demand fairness in the financial market, fairness in the social system and fairness in the economy.

A new study the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) buttresses the Occupy Wall Street movement’s emphasis that “We Are the 99 Percent” while Wall Street and the wealthy represent the 1 percent of the nation that has cashed in on the economy.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is fundamentally right about how skewed the nation’s economic awards have become….Between 1979 and 2006, the annual wages of the top 0.1 percent grew 324 percent and those of the top 1 percent grew 144 percent, while the bottom 90 percent saw gains over that whole period of just 15 percent. The ratio of the wealth held by the wealthiest 1 percent of households to the wealth held by the median household was 225-to-1 in 2009, up from 131-to-1 in 1983.

Click here for the full report.

Last week, Vatican officials said Catholic social teaching and the Occupy Wall Street movement agree that the economy should be at the service of people and that strong action must be taken to reduce the growing gap between rich and poor. Cardinal Peter Turkson of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace told the Catholic News Service (CNS):

People who suffer from the way the financial markets currently operate have the right to say, “Do business differently. Look at the way you’re doing business because this is not leading to our welfare and our good.” If people can hold their government accountable, why can we not hold other institutions in society to accountability?

For more on the faith community and the Occupy Wall Street movement, visit Interfaith Worker Justice here.