Published 06 Apr, 2011
On April 4, thousands of TWU members carried on Dr. King’s legacy of fighting for workers’ rights as human rights in actions in California, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Delaware, Michigan, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Virginia, Tennessee, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, DC.
Over 100 TWU locals organized events ranging from worksite “walk-ins” in colors to candlelight vigils to massive human rights rallies with allies. They joined perhaps a million union, faith and community members nationwide.
Through the strength of our unity, we showed the Tea Party billionaires and their political hired guns that Workers’ Rights are Human Rights, and that we will win the battle for the middle class and the American Dream.
April 4 is the anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. He was shot in Memphis while supporting a recognition strike by public sector sanitation workers, a struggle that was illegal under Tennessee law at the time. Those workers carried signs that read, “I Am a Man.” Dr. King was advised by many not to go to Memphis. They didn’t see this labor struggle as a civil rights struggle. But Dr. King and TWU knew that these struggles were connected. They knew that “We Are One.” Like Dr. King and Mike Quill’s TWU, today we also know that We Are One, and that Workers’ Rights are Human Rights.
We will bring you a full report in a mid-week special edition of the Workers’ Rights=Human Rights e-newsletter.