IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 720 

Recognizing 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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 30, 2018 

Mr. COHEN (for himself, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Ms. BASS, 

Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. COOPER, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. LEWIS of 

Georgia, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Ms. MOORE, Mrs. 

NAPOLITANO, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. RUSH, Ms. 

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee, Mrs. BLACK, Ms. 

JACKSON LEE, Mr. BEYER, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. 

NORTON, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. RICHMOND, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. LEE, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of 

Georgia, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. 

KHANNA, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, 

Mr. MCEACHIN, Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California, Ms. JUDY CHU of 

California, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. 

EVANS, Mr. YARMUTH, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. KUSTOFF of Tennessee, Mrs. 

BLACKBURN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mr. 

LYNCH, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. JEFFRIES, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. ELLISON, 

Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. NEAL, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. 

BLUMENAUER, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, and Mr. 

CLEAVER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the coordinated struggle of workers on the 50th 

anniversary of the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HRES 720 IH 

strike to voice their grievances and reach a collective 

agreement for rights in the workplace. 

Whereas, in 1968, 1,300 African-American sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, fought for collective bargaining rights and equality in the workplace; 

Whereas 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; 

Whereas 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; 

Whereas 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; 

Whereas, 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; 

Whereas, 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; 

Whereas, on February 12, 1968, Memphis sanitation and 

public employees went on strike after attempting lastminute negotiations with Mayor Loeb and the city on the 

terms of their employment, demanding that the city recVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jan 31, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR720.IH HR720

lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HRES 720 IH 

ognize 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; 

Whereas in response to the workers’ demands, Mayor Loeb, 

on February 13, 1968, threatened to hire replacements 

unless workers returned to work; 

Whereas, 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; 

Whereas 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; 

Whereas, 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; 

Whereas, 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 AnnunVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jan 31, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR720.IH HR720

lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HRES 720 IH 

ciation Greek Orthodox Church, and Dean William 

Dimmick of St. Mary’s; 

Whereas, 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; 

Whereas, 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; 

Whereas, on March 7, 1968, the City Council voted to reject 

union dues checkoff for sanitation workers; 

Whereas, 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; 

Whereas, 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; 

Whereas, 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; 

Whereas 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; 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HRES 720 IH 

Whereas, 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; 

Whereas 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; 

Whereas 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; 

Whereas, 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; 

Whereas, 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; 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•HRES 720 IH 

Whereas, 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; 

Whereas, on April 4, 1968, Memphis and cities across the 

country erupted in violent protests and rioting; 

Whereas, 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’’; 

Whereas, 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; 

Whereas, 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; 

Whereas, on April 29, 2011, the 1,300 sanitation worker 

strikers were inducted into the Department of Labor’s 

Labor Hall of Honor; and 

Whereas today, the integration of the civil rights and labor 

movements remains a work in progress and requires our 

continued vigilance: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes the 50th anniversary of the co3 ordinated struggle of workers during the 1968 MemVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jan 31, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR720.IH HR720

lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•HRES 720 IH 

1 phis sanitation workers strike to voice their griev2 ances and reach a collective agreement for rights in 

3 the workplace; 

4 (2) honors the perseverance of the 1,300 mem5 bers of Local 1733 in urging social and economic 

6 equality in the workplace; 

7 (3) honors the memory and inspiring contribu8 tion of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the ul9 timate resolution of the labor dispute; 

10 (4) recognizes the contributions of all those 

11 named and unnamed who participated in the fight 

12 for justice during the strike; and 

13 (5) recognizes there is work to be done to im14 prove both racial and labor relations. 

Æ 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS