At the River I Stand

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr fought for decent wages and working conditions for the sanitation workers of Memphis, TN in 1968.  Employees had to endure no sick leave, long hours with no overtime pay, no grievance procedures, and a man getting injured on the job could get fired.  Fulltime workers were paid so little that they still qualified for welfare.  In 1963 T.O. Jones laid off 32 workers and the city responded by firing them all.  February of 1968 is when two men were crushed to death with NO COMPENSATION after the design of the new dump trucks.  No insurance was available… as a result 1300 workers were left with no choice but to walk away with “what do we have to lose” left the sanitation department behind.

Today we are facing 199 sanitation workers losing their jobs around the holidays.  The city of Memphis has decided to not increase a $7.16 a month increase.  According to Local 24 news, Memphis, TN used to be labeled as the most beautiful city in the country. Well, without the help of our sanitation workers in the next few weeks, trash will begin to pile up.  You will soon be forced to not leave anything at the curb if it does not fit in your trashcans provided by the city.  This includes yard waste, appliances, mattresses, old wooden fencing, flooring remnants, etc.

I bet Dr. King just turned over in his grave!  What you can do to help is sign this petition to fight back for our citizens that work hard to make our city beautiful and help keep jobs to those that do not have any other career paths at hand. $7.16 a month is worth a pretty yard to me and it also helps to keep nearly 200 employed.  Sit back and think what $7.16 can do for your city, I’m gladly making room for it in my budget myself. Please sign and share.

References:

At the River I Stand, Zinn Education Project “Teaching People History”

Local Memphis Channel 24