Fight the Attack on the Middle Class - National Day of Action

To honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s lifelong commitment to ensuring dignity in the workplace for all, progressive allies – including unions, people of faith, civil and human rights activists, and students across the country are taking part in a National Day of Action on April 4.

On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated during a campaign to support sanitation workers in their struggle to gain bargaining rights for sanitation workers in the city of Memphis, Tenn.

“The issue is injustice,” the reverend proclaimed during his speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” “The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public servants, who happen to be sanitation workers.”

Forty-three years later, the issue of injustice remains, and public servants are still demanding fair dealings with government officials and retention of basic rights, such as collective bargaining.

The National Day of Action will take many forms across the country.

UAW members are encouraged to organize outreach events in their worksites and communities to carry on Dr. King’s legacy. By supporting working Americans whose rights are being threatened in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and other states, members will carry on King’s mission to ensure that all Americans have the freedom to bargain and dignity at the workplace.

King and former UAW President Walter Reuther were close allies in the fight to ensure justice for all, frequently taking part in one another’s campaigns, rallies and marches. It is a part of the UAW’s proud history that King drafted his most memorable “I Have a Dream,” speech at the union’s headquarters, Solidarity House in Detroit.

UAW members are asked to honor this history by organizing or joining rallies, having moments of silence, prayer vigils and teach-ins while leafleting and wearing stickers that say, “Stand Up for Workers’ Rights.”

In Michigan, April 4 events include a candlelight vigil in Detroit’s Hart Plaza beginning at 5:45 p.m., as well as a rally at the State Capitol building in Lansing at 6 p.m.

Hundreds of such events will be held across the country. It will be a day to be creative – and show that “We Are One.”

Visit the “We Are One” website, We-R-1.org, to find an event near you or to add an event you have organized to the national list.

Join the movement to tell corporate America and right-wing Republicans they can’t take away the rights of working people.

Beenish Ahmed