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In an effort to help the 14 surviving sanitation workers from the 1968 strike, the city is awarding $50,000 grants to the workers.
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Nearly 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated during the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike. Now, leaders of the union that the workers fought for are claiming that they are still struggling with some of the same issues from that era.
In an effort to help the 14 surviving sanitation workers from the 1968 strike, the city is awarding $50,000 grants to the workers. In addition, the city is creating a matching retirement saving program for sanitation and AFSCME employees who don’t have city pensions.
The Commercial Appeal has more:
Nearly 50 years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination during the Memphis sanitation workers strike in 1968, leaders of the union they fought for are struggling.
"King came down here to make it better, better working conditions with insurance and making sure that our people are taken care of," said Ronald Nelson, chapter chair for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1733.
"We've got sanitation workers out here with torn fingers, half legs, cut arms, out here pulling garbage with canes, barely can get up on the truck; got to work to be able to pay bills," Nelson said.
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