Title: A resolution 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.
Policy area: Labor and Employment

Summary:
Recognizes the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike.
Honors the perseverance of the members of Union Local 1733 and the contribution of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in resolving the labor dispute.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 404 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 404

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 13, 2018

  Mr. Alexander (for himself, Mr. Corker, Mr. Cardin, and Mr. Jones) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
               on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
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.

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 rights of workers, the American Federation of 
        State, County and Municipal Employees (referred to in this preamble as 
        ``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 pay for that day, while White 
        workers were not sent home and received full pay for that day;
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 recognize 
        the union and provide a pay increase to $2.35 an hour from an average of 
        $1.70, as well as overtime pay, and promotions based on merit 
        irrespective of race;
Whereas, in response to the demands of the workers, 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 through 20, 
        1968, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 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 
        Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, and Dean William Dimmick of St. 
        Mary's Episcopal Church;
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 Memphis 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 
        gathering spot for sanitation workers 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 7:00 p.m. curfew that was 
        enforced by 4,000 members of the National Guard moving into Memphis;
Whereas in response to the death of Larry Payne, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, 
        Jr., called the mother of Larry Payne, Lizzie, offering consolation, and 
        vowed to visit Lizzie on the return of Dr. King to Memphis;
Whereas, also on March 28, 1968, and in response to the promise of Rev. Dr. 
        Martin Luther King, Jr., 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 order to allow the march to proceed;
Whereas Louis Lucas and Walter Bailey of the Ratner and Sugarmon firm were 
        deeply involved in representing Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 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 the last speech of Dr. 
        King, forever known for the lines ``I've been to the mountaintop'' 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 injunction by the city 
        resulted in an order from United States District Court Judge Bailey 
        Brown in the late afternoon allowing the march, with some restrictions, 
        to go forward on April 5, 1968;
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 United States 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 
        people of the United States watching on all 3 networks, telling Mayor 
        Loeb ``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. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, and her children, 
        peacefully marched in memory of Dr. King and in support of the requests 
        of the union;
Whereas, on April 16, 1968, AFSCME announced that a 14-month contract had been 
        agreed to and accepted, and included union dues checkoff, a grievance 
        procedure, and wage increases of 10 cents per hour in May and another 5 
        cents per hour in September, ending the 3-month strike;
Whereas, on April 29, 2011, the 1,300 sanitation worker strikers were inducted 
        into the Labor Hall of Honor in the Department of Labor; 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 Senate--
            (1) recognizes the 50th anniversary of the coordinated 
        struggle of workers during the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers 
        strike to voice their grievances and reach a collective 
        agreement for rights in the workplace;
            (2) honors the perseverance of the 1,300 members of Local 
        1733 in urging social and economic equality in the workplace;
            (3) honors the memory and inspiring contribution of Rev. 
        Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the ultimate 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 improve both 
        racial and labor relations.
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