Forty-three years ago, a struggle by 1,300 city sanitation, member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, workers who were being denied the fundamental right of collective bargaining, brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, Tennessee. After marching with these workers, King declared: “Work that serves humanity… It has dignity and it has worth.”
Just a few hours later, Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
On April 4 this year, hundreds of thousands Americans will stand up, say “enough is enough,” and fight for the same rights for which Dr. King fought, according to a press release from the union. The theme for these nationwide events is “We Are One.”
“Across the country, well-funded, right-wing corporate politicians are trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for: the freedom to bargain, to vote, to afford a college education and justice for all workers,” AFSCME president Gerald W. McEntee said. “Officials in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Maine, and a series of other states want to balance the budget on the backs of working people, instead of creating good jobs and asking the wealthiest citizens and large corporations to pay their fair share.”
A breakdown of events by state:
Ohio: Just last night, in a move opposed by the majority of Ohio voters, the Legislature pushed through a bill undermining collective bargaining for 42,000 state workers plus 19,500 college system workers — and ending it entirely for child care providers. It removes health care and other vital benefits completely from the negotiating process.
Wisconsin: Republican Gov. Scott Walker destroyed more than 50 years of labor-management cooperation with his attack on the collective bargaining rights of public employees. A contingent of state legislators met in secret to strip public employees of their rights to collectively bargain to maintain a middle class life.
Michigan: The Legislature approved measures that allow unelected emergency managers to break union contracts in the name of saving struggling school districts. Gov. Snyder signed the bill while thousands of protestors have turned out at the capital in recent days to voice their opposition.
Indiana: Republican leaders in the Legislature tried to pass a right-to-work for less bill — a cornerstone of the anti-worker agenda — as well as a bill making the state’s ban on collective bargaining for public service workers (which Gov. Mitch Daniels enacted in 2005) permanent. While the battle for workers’ dignity continues in Indiana, due to immense public outcry, the legislative leadership has scrapped both proposals for the time being.
Maine: Gov. Paul LePage exempted himself from a $6.1 billion budget bill that requires state employees to increase their pension contributions from 7.65 percent of their salary to 9.65 percent. (He also removed a labor-themed mural from a state office building.)
Florida: Severe cuts to public services, Medicaid, education and pensions are in the works. Meanwhile, state employees haven’t received a raise in more than four years, but most agency heads that Gov. Rick Scott has appointed are making $20,000 a year more than their predecessors.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of attempts like the ones described above when he stood with working people throughout his life.
As he said in 1961, “In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right to work’…Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone.”
The union has posted a new Website for the event, where you can find a We Are One event in your area.
We will be there with two video cameras to cover the event in Birmingham, Alabama. It would be nice to see a really large crowd of real working people show up, as opposed to the fake tea party rallies staged last year by big money interests and right-wing Republicans pretending to be average Americans.
© 2011, Glynn Wilson. All rights reserved.
