Thousands of labor union members have marched for jobs and economic fairness in the streets of New York City, the heart of the Occupy movement. RT’s Marina Portnaya has been at the scene.

The Thursday march was organized by the New York City Central Labor Council, which called on everyone “who is frustrated and worried about the growing economic disparity in this country” to take to the streets.

RT’s Marina Portnaya reports that there some 20,000 people taking part in the march demanding accountability from their elected officials. The people are from various labor unions and include teachers and electricity workers. The event has been peaceful so far.

According to RT’s correspondent there are about 1,000 police officers on the streets and three helicopters hovering over the crowd

The crowd is chanting “We are the 99 per cent” and say that there is an attack on the working class and that hard-working Americans are losing their jobs while the rich are getting richer.

New York City Central Council explained on its website: “The March for Jobs and Economic Fairness on Dec. 1 is a call to action and a show of unity – we want to march down Broadway and fill the street from curb to curb, so government and big business get our message: enough is enough.”

­Debra Sweet, director of the World Can't Wait movement, told RT that the occupations across the United States send a message criticizing not only the government but criticizing the whole economic set-up.

She says that US politicians have not even figured out how to get into the phenomenon of occupation as its message is much too profound to fit into a two-party system. “There is an increasing sophistication from occupiers,” she argues.