On Monday, January 17th, we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This year, UWUA Local 1-2 has produced a PSA, that will run digitally and on social media throughout the weekend, to highlight the diversity and strength of our union and to thank people of good conscience everywhere.
You can click the image below to watch the PSA and make sure to share it on your social media.
This weekend, lets remember and honor a great man, who not only gave his life for the fight for civil rights, but also for the fight for workers to receive their fair share and to have the right to join a union. Dr. King was murdered in Memphis, Tennessee after walking a picket line with striking sanitation workers.
As we observe the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Holiday, let’s not forget that Dr. King fought for all working people everywhere, while trying to rid our nation of its deep, pernicious racism. Part of the March on Washington, where King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech was for workers’ rights and a living minimum wage. At the time in 1963 the wage demand was for a minimum wage of $2 per hour, equivalent to $17 an hour in 2022 – but we're still stuck at $7.50. King was also in Washington to expand Civil Rights for all and to protect everyone’s right to vote in free and fair elections. His actions that day, and those in attendance, led directly to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Today, more than half of the states have introduced or passed into law restrictions to voting, imposing new hurdles to voting that we thought were behind us. It is clear we cannot afford to take any of our Constitutional Rights for granted.
Please keep this in mind in the workplace, where we must lift each other up and protect each other from the Bosses, and in the home and in our communities. It is that important. The struggle continues. As King said in that speech, “I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face difficulties for today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’ “ We still have a long way to go. Stay Strong. Stay United. We will prevail.
