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Union Support Bolsters Occupy Oakland Planned Strike

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Wednesday strike being called by anti-Wall Street demonstrators in Oakland is getting a big boost from organized labor.

The unions that represent Oakland's public school teachers and city government workers have endorsed the protesters' call to march, picket outside banks and attempt to shut down the Port of Oakland in the evening.

Oakland Education Association Secretary Steve Neat says that as of Tuesday afternoon, the staffs at two elementary schools and a small high school had decided to close their campuses for the day.

At least 182 school district employees, the vast majority classroom teachers, had asked to be replaced with substitutes for the day.

A spokesman for the city workers union says the city is allowing non-emergency employees to use vacation or personal days so they can participate.

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