How Civil: Steelworkers Union President Calls For More Militancy.

United Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard has a message.  “More militancy!”

Just in case the Occupy movement fails, Gerard is urging union members to fill the void with “more militancy.” Here’s a clip of Gerard making a pitch for this on Ed Schultz’s radio show earlier this week. (audio)

Here is the transcript:

GERARD: You’re damn right Wall Street occupiers speak for us. They do in Pittsburgh, they do in Chicago, they do in Oakland, they do in San Francisco, they do all across the country. And I think what we need is, we need more militancy.

SCHULTZ: What does that mean, more militancy?

GERARD: I think we’ve got to start a resistance movement. If Wall Street occupation doesn’t get the message, I think we’ve got to start blocking bridges and doing that kind of stuff. This doesn’t have to be this way. The economy doesn’t have to be this way. It’s being put this way because the Wall Streeters are getting their way.

Then we lost the House ’cause the House got blamed for what the Senate didn’t do and now we got a bunch of right-wing nutjobs running the House of Representatives. And in the last period of time, what do we got now, almost two years, a year and a half, that the only thing they’ve done is bring forward social bills, they haven’t brought forward one jobs bill, not one jobs bill, Ed, not one jobs bill and that’s what they ran on. And no wonder people are occupying. We oughta be doing more than occupying parks. We oughta start occupying bridges. We start oughta occupying the banks places themselves. I mean, I just think that this is nuts. (audio)

SCHULTZ: Mr. Gerard, always a pleasure, keep up the fight, always enjoy  visiting with you on the issues of the day and what’s happening. It’s, uh …

GERARD): We can never give up, Ed, we can never give up ’cause we’re right.

SCHULTZ: We are correct on the issues, no doubt. United Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard here on the Ed Schultz radio show, telling the truth again.