Lynette Holloway: Marchers Remember: MLK Was Pro-Union
[Lynette Holloway is a Chicago-based writer. She is a former New York Times reporter and associate editor for Ebony magazine.]
In what is being hailed as a national Day of Solidarity, hundred of thousands of teachers, nurses, students, clergy, firefighters and other workers from across the nation will hold "We Are One" demonstrations to show support for Wisconsin union employees to demand a stop to overreaching policies by Republican lawmakers trying to balance budgets on the backs of public workers.
The observance comes on the 43rd anniversary of the murder of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was unceremoniously gunned down outside a Memphis, Tenn., hotel. He was in town planning a demonstration in support of sanitation workers seeking collective bargaining rights.
"Dr. King went to Memphis to stand with sanitation workers demanding their dream, the right to bargain collectively, for a voice at work and a better life," Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said during a conference call with reporters last week.
"Today that fight goes on," he continued. "Remember the simple placards they wore -- 'I am a man' -- to signify that they deserved respect for the work that they did and the way they helped this country. [Today] it's for fair pay. It's a fight for dignity in retirement. And it's a fight for respect on the job. And quite frankly, this is a fight to preserve the middle-class way of life. And we want to commemorate his life and legacy while calling on working people to continue to stand together."...
Read entire article at The Root
In what is being hailed as a national Day of Solidarity, hundred of thousands of teachers, nurses, students, clergy, firefighters and other workers from across the nation will hold "We Are One" demonstrations to show support for Wisconsin union employees to demand a stop to overreaching policies by Republican lawmakers trying to balance budgets on the backs of public workers.
The observance comes on the 43rd anniversary of the murder of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was unceremoniously gunned down outside a Memphis, Tenn., hotel. He was in town planning a demonstration in support of sanitation workers seeking collective bargaining rights.
"Dr. King went to Memphis to stand with sanitation workers demanding their dream, the right to bargain collectively, for a voice at work and a better life," Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said during a conference call with reporters last week.
"Today that fight goes on," he continued. "Remember the simple placards they wore -- 'I am a man' -- to signify that they deserved respect for the work that they did and the way they helped this country. [Today] it's for fair pay. It's a fight for dignity in retirement. And it's a fight for respect on the job. And quite frankly, this is a fight to preserve the middle-class way of life. And we want to commemorate his life and legacy while calling on working people to continue to stand together."...