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. RICH-
MOND, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. LEE, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of 
Georgia, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mrs. WATSON COLE-
MAN, 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. CAS-
TOR 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 
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strike to voice their grievances and reach a collective 
agreement for rights in the workplace. 
Whereas, in 1968, 1,300 African-American sanitation work-
ers in Memphis, Tennessee, fought for collective bar-
gaining 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 vaca-
tion, 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 last- 
minute negotiations with Mayor Loeb and the city on the 
terms of their employment, demanding that the city rec-
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ognize their union, and provide a pay increase to $2.35 
an hour from an average of $1.70, overtime pay, and pro-
motions 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 Presi-
dent T.O. Jones and AFSCME Director of Legislative 
and Community Affairs William Lucy; 
Whereas after an all-night vigil outside City Hall on Feb-
ruary 19–20, 1968, the National Association for the Ad-
vancement of Colored People (NAACP) and union work-
ers called for a boycott of downtown businesses; 
Whereas, on February 23, 1968, 1,500 strikers and sup-
porters 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 mem-
bers 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 Annun-
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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 an-
nounced 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 lead-
ers, including Roy Wilkins, Bayard Rustin, Ralph Aber-
nathy, 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 Meth-
odist 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 dis-
integrated 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 ar-
rested 280 mostly Black demonstrators, and the State 
legislature authorized a 7 p.m. curfew which was en-
forced by 4,000 members of the National Guard moving 
into Memphis; 
Whereas in response to Payne’s death, Rev. Dr. Martin Lu-
ther King, Jr., called Payne’s mother, Lizzie, offering 
consolation, and vowed to visit her on his return to Mem-
phis; 
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Whereas, also on March 28, 1968, and in response to Rev. 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s promise to return to Mem-
phis to lead a march based on the principles of non-
violence, 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 dis-
pute; 
Whereas, on April 3, 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, 
Jr., addressed a rally of 10,000 Black workers and resi-
dents, 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 Dis-
trict Judge Bailey Brown in the late afternoon allowing 
the march, with some restrictions, to go forward on April 
5, 1968; 
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Whereas, on April 4, 1968, the day after his rallying cry for 
compromise, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was as-
sassinated by a sniper on the balcony outside of his Lor-
raine 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 con-
fronted Mayor Henry Loeb with the Nation watching on 
all three networks, telling him ‘‘There are laws far great-
er 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 in-
cluded 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 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes the 50th anniversary of the co-
ordinated struggle of workers during the 1968 Mem-
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phis sanitation workers strike to voice their griev-
ances and reach a collective agreement for rights in 
the workplace; 
(2) honors the perseverance of the 1,300 mem-
bers of Local 1733 in urging social and economic 
equality in the workplace; 
(3) honors the memory and inspiring contribu-
tion of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the ul-
timate resolution of the labor dispute; 
(4) recognizes the contributions of all those 
named and unnamed who participated in the fight 
for justice during the strike; and 
(5) recognizes there is work to be done to im-
prove both racial and labor relations. 
Æ 
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