In less than three months, the Occupy Wall Street movement, with its “99 Percent” formulation, has changed the national political conversation from “deficits” to issues facing working people—jobs, income disparity, corporate control of the political process, “banks get bailed out, we get sold out.” Big banks were forced to drop their attempt to charge consumers for debit card transactions. The Congressional “super committee” failed in its attempt to gut Social Security and Medicare. In Ohio and New Hampshire, attempts to eliminate collective bargaining for public workers were defeated. In New York, taxes on the wealthy will go up while those on the middle class will go down. Many political commentators credit the Occupy movement.

What are we healthcare workers and union members learning from this movement?