Remembering Dr. King (4/4/08)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., (right) meets with RWDSU Local 3 to review a new contract with Bloomingdales in the 1960s. Local 3 is currently in negotiations with Bloomingdales for a new contract.

Today we mark a sad event in our nation's history, the 40th anniversary of the assasination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

On April 4, 1968, Dr. King was in Memphis, Tennessee to support striking black public sanitary works employees, who had walked out to protest unequal treatment compared to white workers. At 6:01 pm, he was shot while standing on the balcony of his hotel room, and died shortly thereafter. In the wake of Dr. King's death, the city quickly settled the strike in favor of the workers.

"It is fitting that Dr. King's last work was to help mistreated working men and women gain equality on the job," said RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum. "Whether it was discrimination in the workplace or discrimination in society, Dr. King knew that it was the same struggle and fought for what is right. He was a young man when he was killed, but his towering accomplishments continue to shape the world we live in today."

The RWDSU had a long relationship with Dr. King. The union was among the earliest supporters of Dr. King's grassroots drive to challenge racial injustice in the South. In Chicago, the RWDSU  provided an important forum for Dr. King to speak out against poverty in America's cities. Later, thousands of RWDSU members stood shoulder to shoulder with other civil rights activists during the historic 1963 March on Washington.

RWDSU members take special pride that, in 1968, 18 years before it was to become a national holiday, ours was the first union anywhere to negotiate a contract guaranteeing Dr. King's birthday as a paid holiday.

Today, in reflecting on the life and work of Dr. King, we recognize that the fight he began has yet to be won -- and it is up to our generation of RWDSU members to complete his mission.