I Am A Man strike 1968

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.afscme.org/publications/18073.cfm

In 1968, the labor movement and the civil rights movement came together to demand basic rights and respect for all working men and women. The lessons and legacy of the sanitation workers' strike in Memphis continue to inform and inspire workers in their struggle to gain a voice at work.

By Lisa Kelly & Jon Melegrito

Forty years ago, on April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I've Been to the Mountaintop” speech—the last formal remarks he would give before being gunned down the following day.

On that night, King addressed the striking sanitation workers and their supporters at Mason Temple in Memphis, Tenn. The men had walked off the job 51 days earlier over demands for higher wages, dues check-off, time-and-a-half for overtime, safety measures and recognition of their union: AFSCME Local 1733.

But the workers' formal demands represented just part of what they wanted to accomplish. The real battle was over dignity and respect.

Difficult, Dirty Work

In the 1960s, job opportunities were scarce for African-American men living in Memphis and the choice to haul the trash of others was a decision of last resort. The work was smelly, dangerous and back-breaking. Also, the wages were so low—$1.60 an hour for those who loaded the trash, and $1.90 an hour for those who drove the trucks—that many relied on welfare and Food Stamps to support their families.

Despite their age and the obvious fact that they were husbands, fathers and full-time workers, the men—like many African-American males of their generation—also endured being called “boy” by whites, including their supervisors.

s former sanitation worker and striker Taylor Rogers said in January during a roundtable discussion convened in Memphis to mark King's birthday and the strike's 40th anniversary: “We were being mistreated, underpaid and overworked.” Rogers described how the workers carried 50-gallon drums of trash on their heads as moisture leaked all over them from holes in the tubs.

During the roundtable, J.D. Trotter remembered this: “We had nowhere to hang our clothes up. They had some bolts driven on the walls and you'd hang your clothes up on the wall. We came in one evening and the cleaners had cleaned up, put our clothes in the trash can and we didn't have clothes to put on.”

When it rained too hard for the men to work, their already abhorrent working conditions became even worse. The City of Memphis Department of Waste Management sent the African-American workers home without pay. White supervisors and workers were paid their full wages, no matter the weather.

FULL story and photos at link above.

http://www.afscmestore.org/detail.aspx?ID=317

I'm very proud as an AFSCME member to wear the strike shirt!