King's Call to Unionize Low-Wage Workers

Forty years ago on April 4th the nation was stunned by the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., felled by a sniper’s bullet on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.  The loss of the most visible leader of the civil rights movement not only signaled the beginning of the end of that era but prematurely ended an emerging campaign on poverty that Dr. King was preparing to launch in the nation’s capital.

Way Down South Up North

As we recall that day in Memphis, it is important to reflect upon what brought Dr. King back south after he had headed north to confront racism above the Mason-Dixon line.  By the late 1960’s, he had turned his attention away from segregation and toward economic disparities, and started to point out the failings of America’s economy.  

He had moved to Chicago to confront the Daley political machine over conditions of poverty in that city’s Black ghettoes, and his arrival was greeted by a white resistance that shocked King.  While he had come to expect the violent reaction to his challenge to white supremacy in the Deep South, Dr. King was not prepared for his encounters with white mobs when he began to speak out on economic conditions in the north.

The experience in Chicago began to shape Dr. King’s thinking on global economics and influenced his views on the war in Vietnam.  The Martin Luther King, Jr., who spoke out forcefully against the war during a demonstration at the United Nations in 1967 was a different person than the man who delivered the now historic “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington in August 1963.  

His final book, “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” is an indictment of poverty in America and the economic conditions that spawn it.  In many ways, Dr. King was preparing to begin a new chapter in his quest for the nation’s fulfillment of its democratic principles.  Only this time his advocacy would confront the highest levels of government in a way that threatened to expose the manner in which our nation’s leaders manipulated Blacks and working class whites for the benefit of economic elites.

Crossing Jordan by Way of Memphis

Dr. King was summoned to Memphis by local leaders who were fighting for the rights of striking Black sanitation workers. The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) local was attempting to organize the Black workers, who were underpaid and did not have the same rights or benefits as their white colleagues.  It was a fight that King at first attempted to stay out of and one that his aides advised him to steer clear.  Eventually the internal struggle he was waging over his own philosophical direction prompted him to reconsider and he made his way south again.  We now know that Dr. King was fully aware of the dangers awaiting him as he took on this new challenge and had come to accept the fact that his death might be a down payment toward the full purchase of economic rights for all Americans.

His return to Memphis was recognition that the next frontier in the struggle for human rights in the nation was the battle over jobs and justice.  Dr. King saw in the striking Black sanitation workers an opportunity to articulate why wages and benefits, and union representation, were cornerstones to lifting Blacks out of poverty.  

In his short life he had witnessed the working conditions of Black laborers in the south, their low wages - in the case of sharecroppers, no wages - and their inability to fight for their rights against southern landowners and employers.  The south was notoriously anti-union and Blacks had little to no chance to improve their standard of living without the ability to collectively organize around their economic interests.  In Memphis, King saw the chance to use his standing to call attention to the injustices borne by Black workers while also connecting to a labor movement that historically had a complex relationship with Blacks.
Fight for Jobs and Justice Continues

In many ways King’s vision is still a work in progress.  Our effort on behalf of private security guards in New York City is an extension of Dr. King’s blueprint.  Two years ago, Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), under the leadership of Michael Fishman, reached out to me seeking CSS’s support on behalf of private security guards who the union was attempting to organize.  

These workers, mostly Black men numbering 63,000 in the city, were underpaid and without health care and other benefits.  We agreed to conduct research into their status and living conditions, and were startled to discover the degree to which these workers were marginalized.  Although many were working full-time, most did not have health insurance, could not take a paid day off, and some were even homeless.  Their median hourly wage was $10.14, compared to the average median of $18.39 for all workers in the New York metropolitan area.  It was a shocking revelation when one considers that these individuals protect some of the most valuable real estate in the world and, in the post 9/11 era, are considered to be the first line of defense against terrorism.

Our experience working with Local 32BJ/SEIU awoke us to the next frontier in our ongoing work to confront poverty: the importance of labor unions in improving wages and benefits for the working poor.  Much like Dr. King, we have come to understand the role that work plays in lifting people out of poverty and, like the late civil rights leader, we see the value added that organized labor brings to the workplace.  

Without strong union representation, workers in many sectors don’t stand a chance negotiating for wages and benefits.  In the wake of globalization, workers and management must see the benefit of a strong and productive workforce to increase our nation’s economic competitiveness in the global marketplace.  It is the vision Dr. King shared 40 years ago and remains our challenge today.

From the New York Amsterdam News
April 3 - 9, 2008