WHAT'S NEXT

Tell Memphis City Council: Don't Gut the Union Dr. King Died For
  1. Signatures
    178 out of 250
    Petitioning
    1. City Councilwoman (+ 10 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • City Councilwoman (Janis Fullilove)
      • City Councilman (Myron Lowery)
      • City Councilman (Kemp Conrad)
      • City Councilman (Shea Flinn)
      • City Councilman (Bill Morrison)
      • City Councilman (Bill Boyd)
      • City Councilman (Harold Collins)
      • City Councilwoman (Wanda Halbert)
      • City Councilman (Jim Strickland)
      • City Councilman (Reid Hedgepeth)
      • City Councilman (Edmund Ford Jr.)
  2. Created By
    Workers Interfaith Network
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates
How We Won

Jun 22, 2011

The Memphis City Council canned plans to privatize the city's solid-waste collection services, saving the jobs of 500 unionized sanitation workers that Martin Luther King Jr. fought and died for 43 years ago.

Dr. King, was in Memphis when he was assassinated on April 4, 1968. He was there to support city sanitation workers on strike for better working conditions after two were killed on a garbage truck.  

Memphis City Council Members received 178 messages from Change.org members in support of the union members.

"It makes me feel better to know that I still have a job," said Willie Douglas, a 17-year veteran of the sanitation department, in a news report.

    With the City of Memphis facing a large budget deficit, City Council members are considering all kinds of proposals to generate more revenue or cut expenses.

    One proposal that is sending chills down the backs of worker rights and civil rights activists comes from Councilman Kemp Conrad. In recent budget hearings, he has repeatedly brought up the idea of privatizing the City's entire sanitation department. These are the same workers who spent three months on strike in 1968 to win the right to a union in the first place - the workers who Dr. King died supporting.

 

   It isn't even clear if privatization would save the City money, since contractors would need to make a profit. What is clear is that long-time sanitation workers would be jobless. The companies that replace them will likely pay low wages and offer workers few benefits, and would likely oppose workers trying to unionize.

 

   On June 7th, the City Council failed to come to an agreement on a budget, including whether sanitation workers' jobs will be eliminated. Council members will vote again on the budget on June 21st, so please take action today!

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Don't privatize sanitation workers' jobs

Greetings,

As you consider the proposed City budget, I urge you to reject any privatization of current sanitation workers' jobs. Dr. King died to establish the right of these hard-working people to have a union. They have served the City faithfully, yet the Council is considering taking away their jobs in the same week they were inducted into the U.S. Department of Labor's Hall of Fame.

It's easy to claim that privatization will save the City money, but it's not clear that it will. Comparing the efficiency of current private companies serving parts of the City with public workers is like comparing apples and oranges. Private workers are only picking up carts using motorized vehicles, while City sanitation workers have to come behind them to do labor intensive work like clearing yard debris. It's not surpising that private workers can do their routes faster, because City workers are doing the hardest parts of their routes for them.

While it's not clear if privatization would save money, it is clear that private companies would pay workers less and provide few benefits to workers. Likely, they would oppose any attempt by their wrokers to form a union as the Memphis sanitation workers did in 1968.

There are many different ways that the City could close the current budget gap. Throwing away the jobs of hard-working people who deserve a living wage, fair benefits, and the protection of a union should not be one of them. I urge you to reject any attempt to privatize the sanitation workers' jobs.

[Your name]

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