[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 51 (Friday, March 23, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E366-E367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 COMMEMORATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MEMPHIS SANITATION WORKERS' 
      STRIKE AND THE ASSASSINATION OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 23, 2018

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and recognize the 
coordinated struggle of workers on the 50th Anniversary of the 1968 
Memphis sanitation workers' strike to voice their grievances and reach 
a collective agreement for rights in the workplace.
  To enshrine this moment into history and the record of the House of 
Representatives, I recently introduced a resolution, H. Res. 720, to 
commemorate the historic convergence of the Civil Rights and Labor 
movements that the sanitation workers' strike represents. Since Its 
introduction, my resolution has garnered the support of a bipartisan 
coalition of nearly 100 members of the House including almost every 
member of the Congressional Black Caucus, every member of the Tennessee 
House delegation, and the support and passage of an identical 
resolution in the United States Senate.

[[Page E367]]

  On February 1, 1968, Memphis sanitation workers Echol Cole, 36, and 
Robert Walker, 30, climbed inside a garbage truck amid putrefying trash 
and dead chickens in a driving rain and were crushed to death when the 
compactor malfunctioned. Twelve days later, frustrated by the city's 
response to the latest event in a long pattern of neglect and 
disrespect for its black employees, 1,300 black men from the Memphis 
Department of Public Works went on strike.
  Sanitation workers demanded recognition of their union, better safety 
standards, and higher wages. Their fight--symbolized by strike placards 
reading ``I AM A MAN''--brought Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Memphis. 
On April 4, 1968, during the labor dispute, Dr. King was assassinated 
on the balcony outside his room in the Lorraine Motel, now the site of 
the National Civil Rights Museum.
  On the cusp of the solemn 50th anniversary of the assassination of 
the late, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I would like to lay out the 
record of the Memphis sanitation workers' strike and the events leading 
up to the assassination of Dr. King:
  In 1968, 1,300 African-American sanitation workers in Memphis, 
Tennessee, fought for collective bargaining rights and equality in the 
workplace.
  In the struggle for workers' rights, the American Federation of 
State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) integrated the labor 
movement and the civil rights movement in a demand for basic human 
rights and respect for all men and women.
  Black employees doing most of the low-wage work in Memphis had almost 
no health care, pensions, or vacation, worked in deplorable conditions, 
and were shown disrespect by White supervisors.
  40 percent of the workers qualified for welfare in order to 
supplement their low salaries and were denied the opportunity to 
improve their working conditions by Memphis Mayor Henry Loeb and the 
City Council.
  On January 31, 1968, 22 Black sewer workers who reported for work 
were sent home when it began raining, losing a day's pay, while White 
workers were not sent home and received a full day's pay.
  The following day, February 1, 1968, sanitation workers Echol Cole 
and Robert Walker sought refuge from a downpour in the hamper of a 
garbage truck amid putrefying garbage and were crushed to death when 
the compactor malfunctioned.
  On February 12, 1968, Memphis sanitation and public employees went on 
strike after attempting last-minute negotiations with Mayor Loeb and 
the city on the terms of their employment, demanding that the city 
recognize their union, and provide a pay increase to $2.35 an hour from 
an average of $1.70, overtime pay, and promotions based on merit 
irrespective of race.
  In response to the workers' demands, Mayor Loeb, on February 13, 
1968, threatened to hire replacements unless workers returned to work
  On February 18, 1968, the President of AFSCME, Jerry Wurf, arrived in 
Memphis and negotiations began in the basement of St. Mary's Episcopal 
Church with Rabbi James A. Wax of Temple Israel representing the 
Memphis Ministerial Association, mediating between the city and 
striking workers, assisted by Local 1733 President T.O. Jones and 
AFSCME Director of Legislative and Community Affairs William Lucy.
  After an all-night vigil outside City Hall on February 19-20, 1968, 
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) 
and union workers called for a boycott of downtown businesses.
  On February 23, 1968, 1,500 strikers and supporters organized a march 
to the Memphis City Hall, where, 11 days after the initial strike, the 
City Council refused to recognize the union.
  In the following days, 500 White labor union members joined members 
of the clergy and sanitation workers in a march downtown, 116 strikers 
and supporters were arrested during a peaceful demonstration, and 
hundreds of high school students joined in another march led or 
supported by members of the clergy including Rabbi Wax, the Reverend 
Frank McRae of St. John's United Methodist Church, Father Nicholas 
Vieron of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, and Dean William Dimmick 
of St. Mary's.
  On March 4, 1968, a proposal by State Senator Frank White to create a 
State mediation board to resolve the stalemate was rejected by Mayor 
Loeb.
  On March 5, 1968, the Ministerial Association announced that Rev. Dr. 
Martin Luther King, Jr., would be traveling to Memphis on behalf of 
striking workers.
  On March 7, 1968, the City Council voted to reject union dues 
checkoff for sanitation workers.
  Throughout March 1968, national civil rights leaders, including Roy 
Wilkins, Bayard Rustin, Ralph Abernathy, James Bevel, Andrew Young, and 
Jesse Jackson, among others, came to Memphis to rally the strikers.
  On March 28, 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Reverend 
James Lawson of Centenary Methodist Church led a march from the 
sanitation workers' gathering spot at Clayborn Temple and on to Beale 
Street which was marred by window-breaking and disintegrated into a 
riot as police responded with tear gas and gunfire.
  Also on March 28, 1968, 16-year-old Larry Payne was shot to death by 
a Memphis police officer, police arrested 280 mostly Black 
demonstrators, and the State legislature authorized a 7 p.m. curfew 
which was enforced by 4,000 members of the National Guard moving into 
Memphis.
  In response to Payne's death, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 
called Payne's mother, Lizzie, offering consolation, and vowed to visit 
her on his return to Memphis.
  Also on March 28, 1968, and in response to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr.'s promise to return to Memphis to lead a march based on the 
principles of nonviolence, the city obtained a temporary restraining 
order in Federal court forbidding such a march.
  In response to the temporary restraining order, AFSCME General 
Counsel Mel Wulf asked the firm of Burch, Porter and Johnson and 
attorneys Lucius E. Burch, Jr., David Caywood, Charles Newman, and W.J. 
Michael Cody to work on lifting the injunction to allow the march to 
proceed.
  Louis Lucas and Walter Bailey of the Ratner and Sugarmon firm were 
deeply involved in representing King and striking workers for the 
duration of the labor dispute.
  On April 3, 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., addressed a rally 
of 10,000 Black workers and residents, members of the clergy, White 
liberals, and union members at Mason Temple, the Memphis headquarters 
of the Church of God in Christ, for what would be his last speech, 
forever known for the lines `I have been to the mountain top', and `I 
may not get there with you but I want you to know tonight that we as a 
people will get to the promised land', linking the civil rights and 
labor movements and foreshadowing his fate.
  On April 4, 1968, a daylong hearing on the city's injunction resulted 
in an order from United States District Judge Bailey Brown in the late 
afternoon allowing the march, with some restrictions, to go forward on 
April 5, 1968.
  On April 4, 1968, the day after his rallying cry for compromise, Rev. 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated by a sniper on the 
balcony outside of his Lorraine Motel room in Memphis.
  On April 4, 1968, Memphis and cities across the country erupted in 
violent protests and rioting.
  On April 5, 1968, Rabbi James A. Wax led a march from St. Mary's 
Episcopal Church to City Hall and confronted Mayor Henry Loeb with the 
Nation watching on all three networks, telling him `There are laws far 
greater than the laws of Memphis and Tennessee, and these are the laws 
of God'.
  On April 8, 1968, an estimated 42,000 people, led by the wife of Rev. 
Dr. King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, and her children, peacefully marched 
in memory of Dr. King and in support of the union's requests.
  On April 16, 1968, AFSCME announced that a 14-month contract had been 
agreed to and accepted, and included union dues check-off, a grievance 
procedure, and wage increases of 10 cents an hour in May and another 5 
cents in September, ending the 3-month strike.
  On April 29, 2011, the 1,300 sanitation worker strikers were inducted 
into the Department of Labor's Labor Hall of Honor.
  Today, the integration of the civil rights and labor movements 
remains a work in progress and requires our continued vigilance.
  In the days leading up to and surrounding April 4th 2018, 50 years 
after that fateful night, the world will converge on Memphis, a now-
sacred place where the world lost a true beacon of justice. 
Nevertheless, the light from that beacon shines on, lighting a path 
towards true equality and compassion for one another, long after the 
passing of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. There, we will pay 
homage and respect to a man whose bold courage helped change the world, 
and whose legacy continues to be a force for justice and hope for all.
  I urge my colleagues to pass H. Res. 720, to immortalize our honor 
and respect for the Memphis sanitation workers and Dr. King and the 
legacy they leave behind.

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