Martin Luther King Jr. talks
about the labor movement
“The labor movement was the principal force that transformed
misery and despair into hope and progress. Out of its bold struggles,
economic and social reform gave birth to unemployment insurance,
old-age pensions, government relief for the destitute and, above all,
new wage levels that meant not mere survival but a tolerable life.
The captains of industry did not lead this transformation; they resis-
ted it until they were overcome. When in the ‘30s the wave of union
organization crested over the nation, it carried to secure shores not
only itself but the whole society.”
—Speech to the state convention of the Illinois AFL-CIO,
Oct. 7, 1965
“Less than a century ago the laborer had no rights, little or no re-
spect, and led a life which was socially submerged and barren ... .
American industry organized misery into sweatshops and pro-
claimed the right of capital to act without restraints and without con-
science. The inspiring answer to this intolerable and dehumanizing
existence was economic organization through trade unions. The
worker became determined not to wait for charitable impulses to
grow in his employer. He constructed the means by which fairer shar-
ing of the fruits of his toil had to be given to him or the wheels of in-
dustry, which he alone turned, would halt and wealth for no one
would be available... .
“History is a great teacher. Now everyone knows that the labor
movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it.
By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously cre-
ated a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed-
of levels of production. Those who attack labor forget these simple
truths, but history remembers them.
“Negroes are almost entirely a working people ... . Our needs are
identical with labor’s needs: decent wages, fair working conditions,
livable housing, old-age security, health and welfare measures, con-
ditions in which families can grow, have education for their children
and respect in the community. That is why Negroes support labor’s
demands and fight laws which curb labor. That is why the labor-hater
and labor-baiter is virtually always a twin-headed creature, spewing
anti-Negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from
the other mouth.”
“In our glorious fight for civil
rights, we must guard against being
fooled by false slogans, such as
‘right to work.’ It is a law to rob us
of our civil rights and job rights. It
is supported by Southern segrega-
tionists who are trying to keep us
from achieving our civil rights and our right of equal job opportunity.
Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective
bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working con-
ditions of everyone … Wherever these laws have been passed, wages
are lower, job opportunities are fewer and there are no civil rights. We
do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be
stopped. Our weapon is our vote.”
—Speaking on “right-to-work” laws in 1961
“Negroes in the United States read the history of labor and find it
mirrors their own experience. We are confronted by powerful forces
telling us to rely on the goodwill and understanding of those who
profit by exploiting us. They deplore our discontent, they resent our
will to organize, so that we may guarantee that humanity will prevail
and equality will be exacted. They are shocked that action organiza-
tions, sit-ins, civil disobedience and protests are becoming our every-
day tools, just as strikes, demonstrations and union organization be-
came yours to insure that bargaining power genuinely existed on
both sides of the table.
“We want to rely upon the goodwill of those who oppose us. In-
deed, we have brought forward the method of nonviolence to give an
example of unilateral goodwill in an effort to evoke it in those who
have not yet felt it in their hearts. But we know that if we are not si-
multaneously organizing our strength we will have no means to
move forward. If we do not advance, the crushing burden of cen-
turies of neglect and economic deprivation will destroy our will, our
spirits and our hope. In this way, labor’s historic tradition of moving
forward to create vital people as consumers and citizens has become
our own tradition, and for the same reasons.”
—Speaking to the AFL-CIO on Dec. 11, 1961
—Speaking to the AFL-CIO on Dec. 11, 1961
Zachary
Zabinsky
“Today Negroes want above all else to abolish poverty in their
lives and in the lives of the white poor. This is the heart of their pro-
gram. To end the humiliation was a start, but to end poverty is a big-
ger task. It is natural for Negroes to turn to the labor movement be-
cause it was the first and pioneer anti-poverty program….
“Negroes are not the only poor in the nation. There are nearly
twice as many white poor as Negro, and therefore the struggle
against poverty is not involved solely with color or racial discrimi-
nation but with elementary economic justice...
“Now most serious thinkers acknowledge that dislocations in the
market operation of our economy and the prevalence of discrimina-
tion thrust people into idleness and bind them in constant or frequent
unemployment against their will. The poor are less often dismissed
from our conscience today by being branded as inferior and incom-
petent. We also know that no matter how dynamically the economy
develops and expands, it does not eliminate all poverty.
“To a degree, we have been attacking the problem by increasing
purchasing power through higher wage scales and increased Social
Security benefits. But these measures are exercised with restraint and
come only as a consequence of organized struggles…Those at the
lowest economic level, the poor white, the Negro, the aged, are tra-
ditionally unorganized and have little or no ability to force a growth
in their consumer potential. They stagnate or become even poorer in
relation to the larger society.”
—Speaking to shop stewards of Teamsters Local 815 and the Allied
Trades Council, May 2, 1967
(Source: Now Is the Time. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Labor in
the South: The Case for a Coalition. Booklet prepared by the South-
ern Labor Institute under the auspices of the Labor Subcommittee of
the King Holiday Commission, designed by the American Federation
of Teachers and printed by AFSCME. January 1986.)
Your brothers and sisters in
AFSCME Local 88 encourage all
our brothers and sisters to enjoy and
celebrate the freedoms we have that
Martin Luther King fought so hard to
achieve for all Americans.
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“We
know through
through painful
painful
experience
freedom
is never
voluntarily
“We know
experience
that that
freedom
is never
voluntarily
given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I
Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was
have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was ‘well timed’ in the
"well
timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from
view
of
those of
who
have not suffered
unduly
from
the disease
of segrega-
the disease
segregation.
For years
now
I have
heard the
word
tion.
For
years
now
I
have
heard
the
word
‘wait!’
It
rings
in
the
ear
of every
"Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity.
This
Negro with
familiarity.
This ‘wait’
has almost
always
meant
‘never.’
"Wait"
has piercing
almost always
meant
'Never."
We must
come
to see,
with
one
of our
distinguished
that distinguished
"justice too long jurists,
delayed
justice
We must
come
to see, with jurists,
one of our
that is ‘justice
denied."
too long delayed is justice denied.’ “
Quoted from “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 2963, from
Quoted from “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963, from
Martin Luther King to his fellow clergymen.
Martin Luther King Jr. to his fellow clergymen.
JANUARY 19, 2007
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
PAGE 7