The Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike Movement The Memphis Sanitation strike of 1968 was one of the greatest events in human history . This strike was led by black sanitation workers who were tired of human exploitation, economic oppression, and racism. Its history existed long before the 1960’s too. During the 1930’s, black workers and others (in groups like the CIO or the Congress of Industrial Organizations) fought for equality and labor rights. Their efforts were stymied by the efforts of white racists and business reactionary forces who wanted no recognition of a public union. Also, black people throughout America (not just in Memphis) suffered racism and even murder by bigots. Many people, who traveled into Memphis, came from the Deep South like Mississippi. Memphis is known for resources based on the river, music, various industries, and other diverse displays of beautiful culture. Memphis back then was also known for the evil of Jim Crow apartheid. This strike was the last campaign of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The victory of the strike unfortunately came after his assassination in April 4, 1968. Yet, we remember his legacy and we will always remember the men and the women who stood up for workers’ rights . The civil rights movement wasn’t just made up of black people. There were many white people, Hispanic people, Asian people, etc. who fought in favor of equality and justice for black people too. Likewise, black people have always had a leadership position in our black liberation movement too. I want to make that point clear. During the strike, the stubborn, reactionary Mayor Henry Loeb fought against the strike until the end. He or Loeb was adamantly opposed to giving sanitation workers public union representation or recognition. There were so many names that were involved in this struggle for economic justice. Some of the major people involved in the strike are T.O. Jones, Ed Gillis, Bill Lucy, James Lawson, Cornelia Crenshaw, Jesse Epps, Tarlease Matthews (she was a civil rights activist in Memphis. She later changed her name to Adjua Naantaanbuu and founded Memphis Kwanzaa International. She passed away in 2008), Rev. P. L. Rowe, Jerry Wurf (AFSCME’s international President), P.J. Chiampa (or AFSMCE), and others. The young Invaders group (who were influenced by the Black Power movement. It had people like Charles Cabbage and Coby Smith) had ideological conflicts with more of the older civil rights groups (the older civil rights groups wanted to use nonviolence as a method to resist oppression while the Invaders wanted to use also self- defense to fight back against tyranny basically). Although, by April 1968, the diverse factions of the strike movement would come together. We have to know other people involved in this struggle like Rev. James Lawson, John Burl Smith (who co- founded the Invaders in 1967), Andrew Young, Michael Cody (he is a white attorney who fought to get rid of the temporary injunction blocking the future April march in Memphis, Tennessee), Dorothy F. Cotton (she was a leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference back then and an executive staff member of the SCLC), Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles (he was a leader of COME), Rev. Jesse Jackson (he worked in Chicago and ran Operation Breadbasket), Ernest Withers (he was a civil rights photographer. He has been accused of being an FBI informant recently. Withers’ family has strongly denied these charges), Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Charles Cabbage, U.S. Marshall Cato Ellis (he delivered the injunction to Dr. King in April 3, 1968), Bernard Lee (he was an aide to Dr. King), and so many other people. Jim Crow oppression in Memphis Memphis from the 1940’s to the 1960’s grew massively in population. Yet, Jim Crow apartheid was still in the city. After Reconstruction, white racists oppressed black people continuously. Black workers were restricted heavily from joining skilled labor. Sanitation workers had very low pay. Black workers were immediately fired for the most minor of reasons. The Mayor of Memphis Henry Loeb was a reactionary and he worked in public works projects. He wanted to maintain the status quo of having black sanitation workers to receive low wages, getting cheap equipment, and a refusal for the establishment of a public union to represent the black sanitation workers. Loeb ran for mayor as early as 1959. Back then, he was an open segregationist. By the early 1960’s, desegregation did exist in many areas of Memphis, but the right for economic rights remained nonexistent. Black people in Memphis struggled to have decent jobs with living wages and great working conditions. Black women also were discriminated by race and gender. Many sanitation workers back then had to collect garbage with their hands. Many white supervisors would call black sanitation workers derogatory names and racial slurs. The sanitation workers worked long hours without overtime pay. They had no paid vacations, no grievance procedure, and no sick leave. According to Professor Honey, black sanitation workers were just paid between 94 cents and $1.14 per hour (and during the following years, hourly wages were never more than 5 center per hour above the minimum wage for laborers). These men worked every day and they were mistreated by a racist system. In 1960, Thomas Oliver or T.O. Jones tried to organize a local union. He worked with O.Z. Evers, who was a neighborhood civic activist. Evers signed up sanitation workers as members of Teamsters Local 984. In Memphis, TN during the 1960’s, the sanitation workers were in involved in two strikes. The commissioner of Public Workers rejected Evers’ and Jones’ request. In fact, the Public Works Department fired Jones and 32 other workers since they organized the request. In 1965, William Ingram was the new mayor of Memphis. He relied heavily on the African American vote in order for him to be mayor. Yet, Ingram was more moderate and was not standing up against the white racists who wanted the status quo. Sisson or the Public Works Commissioner fired union officers including T. O. Jones because of their fight for economic justice. Ingram reinstated token concessions like pay scales, heaters in some of the old trucks, etc. Yet, Sisson refused to recognize a public employee union. The first strike proposal was in August 1966 when Jones and other union organizers threatened to strike. The government threatened Jones with an injunction (or restrictions of free speech rights and the right to protest) and Jones ended his plans for his strike. That would change in 1968. On January 1, 1968, Henry Loeb was sworn in as mayor of Memphis once again. On Sunday, January 31, rain come about in the city. The Strike begins On the day of February 1, 1968, 2 African American sanitation workers were killed by an incident in a city truck. Both black men wanted to find shelter from the rain. Black workers were forced to work in the rain, even in harsh conditions. They were in the truck, the machine malfunctioned, and they were killed by the truck (being crushed to death). Their names are Echol Cole and Robert Walker. Enough was Enough. Sanitation workers and public employees would strike on February 12, 1968 (as a meeting in the Memphis Labor Temple). Leaders of this movement include T.O. Jones, Maxine Smith, P. J. Ciampa, James Lawson, Bill Lucy (who was an AFSCME organizer), etc. Loeb would try to replace the workers and he wouldn’t budge during the vast majority of the strike. During the marches of strikes, many of the protesters would met in a church, plan strategies, and march through the city’s downtown area constantly. The strike lasted for over 2 months. About 800 strikers took their message to the streets for the first time Feb. 13 marching more than three miles to City Hall from the United Rubber Workers of America union hall on Firestone. The group was so large it had to assemble in The Auditorium, a downtown concert hall, before it could be addressed by the mayor and union leaders. The Memphis Sanitation Strike started on February 12, 1968. Only 38 of the 180 trucks moved during the beginning of the strike. Mayor Loeb made the premise that the strike is illegal since he wanted to reject any recognition of any public union in the city. He talked to people, but Loeb refused to budge. An International Union official, who flown in from Washington, came to meet with the mayor. He called for union recognition, dues checkoff, and negotiation to resolve the workers’ grievances. The Mayor said that he’ll send in new workers or scabs unless the strikers return to their jobs. There were people who protested in front of Loeb’s house. They were 7 black people and 4 white people. They were young people, made up of males and females, and they were sponsored by the NAACP. The NAACP wanted to escalate the strike in a more militant nonviolent direction. Some of the labor union members wanted to solely focus on economic issues while the black strikers and other black activists wanted the strike to be both about economic issues and racial justice. Many sanitation strikers would lose their jobs and income. So, church organizations and other political groups would provide the strikers with money and food. Activist Cornelia Crenshaw would provide the strikers with food too. Taylor Blair, T. O. Jones, Cornelia Crenshaw, Reverend Bell, City Council member J. O. Patterson Jr., and others were in a rally to discuss plans for the future. Clayborn Temple (which was a church) was a key staging ground for the protesters and the other activists who wanted the Memphis Sanitation workers to form a union.