Memphis Sanitation Workers Inducted Into Labor Hall of Fame

1968 Strike a Turning Point for Collective Bargaining Rights

President Obama meets at the White House with eight surviving Memphis sanitation workers whose 1968 strike changed labor history. The 1,300 strikers were inducted into the Department of Labor’s Labor Hall of Fame on April 28.

President Obama meets at the White House with eight surviving Memphis sanitation workers whose 1968 strike changed labor history. The 1,300 strikers were inducted into the DOL's Labor Hall of Fame on April 28. "

The 1,300 Memphis sanitation workers whose 1968 strike changed history and showed Americans that workers' rights are human rights have been inducted into the Labor Hall of Fame.

The April 29 ceremony marked the first time the U.S. Department of Labor has inducted a group of workers into the Hall of Fame. Normally the honor is reserved for individuals.

CWA President Larry Cohen and Public, Health Care and Education Sector Vice President Brooks Sunkett were among the guests as Labor Secretary Hilda Solis honored eight surviving strikers and all of the sanitation workers who courageously fought for rights and dignity on the job.

Their strike was already two months old when Martin Luther King came to Memphis to march with them. He was assassinated at his Memphis hotel on April 4, 1968.

The fight was a watershed moment for collective bargaining rights in the United States, a battle that many workers are being forced to wage again.

"Today, some governors are using the financial crisis as an excuse to take this country backward, instead of forward," Solis said. "But we know American workers still want and need a voice at the table. We know collective bargaining gives them that seat."

Solis revealed some of what she'd heard earlier Friday when the men met privately with President Obama at the White House.

"How incredible is it that we have a president who says to these sanitation workers, 'Come on in to the White House. This is your house. This is the people's house'?" Solis said. "He said he wanted to honor you for changing America. And I heard his words when he spoke to you, and he said he doesn't stand alone. He stands on your shoulders. If it was not for you, he might not be our president."