Dear Colleagues,
I have cut and pasted and edited a message that you may have recieved from AFT National President Randy Weingarten below.
Memphis Sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker were crushed to death on Feb. 1, 1968 in the compactor of their malfunctioning, obsolete truck, in which they had sought shelter from a downpour. They were 36 and 30 years old, respectively, trying to raise a family on the minimum wages paid by the city. Their deaths sparked the walkout of 1,300 fellow sanitation workers. (For more background read https://en.wikipedia.org/
The AFT has joined our brothers and sisters from AFSCME in the I AM 2018 campaign, as we memorialize the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., struck down in the struggle for justice, and call attention to the struggles working people are still facing today. (Check out the campaign at www.iam2018.org )
I AM 2018 will be an occasion for reflection and an opportunity to re-commit to carry forward the causes for which Dr. King fought, and for which the Memphis public works workers marched in 1968.
In Union,
Ari Klein
CHTU President