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