“Now is the time.”
Those were the words spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he addressed the sanitation workers on strike in Memphis just weeks before he was assassinated.
Today, we honor Dr. King’s birthday but we do so not as a moment in history, but as a call to action today, to fight for dignity and respect for all workers in this country, just as Dr. King did in Memphis and throughout his too-short life.
The labor movement and the civil rights movement have been intertwined for decades and TWU has been there from the beginning, opening previously restricted job titles to people of color, marching in Selma, fighting for equal rights and pay for all working Americans, regardless of race, creed, gender or sexual orientation.
“Now is the time.” To act, to speak out, to fight for our rights, to strengthen the labor movement, to protect our jobs and our families.
As Dr. King said to those striking workers in 1968, “We can all get more together than we can apart; we can get more organized together than we can apart. And this is the way we gain power. Power is the ability to achieve purpose, power is the ability to affect change, and we need power.”
We must honor his legacy, reach for the dream, and stay united as TWU to wield the power needed to preserve our rights.
“Now is the time.”