Memorial Marks His Advocacy
Sanworkers' Tribute to King

By REUVEN BLAU

Union organizer Jesse Epps rubbed his eyes and adjusted his glasses Jan. 17 as excerpts of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s last speech were played overhead during a memorial service packed with Sanitation Workers in Trinity Church.

The Chief-Leader/Eric Weiss A SANITATION SALUTE: Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association President Harry Nespoli Jan. 17 kicked off the union's memorial ceremony honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Trinity Church. The USA recently became the city's first uniformed union to negotiate his birthday as a paid holiday for its members.

Mr. Epps marched with Dr. King in Memphis, Tenn. on April 4, 1968 shortly before the civil rights leader was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel. "We both got thousands of death threats," Mr. Epps recalled last week.

They were in Memphis to support that city's Sanitation Workers, who were engaged in a 64-day strike.

Followed Strike Here

With his small figure peering over the podium in the front of the church, Mr. Epps noted that New York City Sanitation Workers had just ended their nine-day strike when their counterparts in Memphis walked off the job demanding better treatment.

"It was you, the Sanitation Engineers, who fired the shot heard around the world that inspired the men in Memphis," said the former organizer for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "It is time again; let the Sanitation Engineers here and across the country complete the task."

The Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association arranged the memorial after it recently became the city's first uniformed union to negotiate Dr. King's birthday as a paid holiday for its members.

"This is a monumental day," Mr. Epps asserted. "You transformed this nation. You made it known to the world at large that garbagemen and trash collectors are truly sanitation engineers."

The Chief-Leader/Eric Weiss 'TRANSFORMING A NATION': Union organizer Jesse Epps, second from left, recalled how he marched with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tenn. shortly before the civil rights leader was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Dr. King was there to support the 1,300 Sanitation Workers who were engaged in a 64-day strike. Also pictured are: former Mayor David Dinkins, left, Mayor Bloomberg, and Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association President Harry Nespoli.

City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. noted that in Memphis the black Sanitation Workers were paid $1.70 per hour, and only received two hours' "show-up pay" when it rained, while their white colleagues earned a full day's wage. They were also not allowed to ride in the cab of the collection trucks next to their white colleagues.

Many of the Memphis workers lived below the poverty level and received practically no health-care benefits, pensions, or vacation time. They were also required to first collect all the garbage in large tubs, which they then carried back to their trucks.

The Comptroller pointed out that Dr. King spent his life working to bolster workers' rights, economic empowerment, and racial equality. "Your union recognition of this holiday reminds us that as long as we keep fighting for economic justice, Martin Luther King did not die in vain," Mr. Thompson said.

The Feb. 12, 1968 strike started shortly after an incident in which a malfunctioning garbage compactor had fatally crushed two black men, Echol Cole and Robert Walker. That truck is now on display at a local museum.

Galvanized for Justice

"When those two lives were taken, we said we would work no more until justice prevailed," Mr. Epps recalled as he leaned closer towards the microphone.

The Memphis workers joined AFSCME Local 1733 and demanded salary raises, overtime pay, union recognition, union dues check-off, and better grievance procedures.

In response, then-Memphis Mayor Henry Loeb initially offered to increase wages, but refused to allow automatic dues check-off.

David Dinkins, who 21 years later was elected New York City's first black Mayor, eloquently recounted last week how the workers in Memphis struggled to prevail.

After a March 28, 1968 protest led by Dr. King that turned violent when police attacked the strikers with nightsticks, MACE and tear gas, the National Guard was called in to quell the riots. But that move actually increased tensions.

The strike's slogan, "I Am a Man," represented the demand of the black workers to be treated fairly.

Spurred Check-Off

Dr. King's assassination on April 4 led to riots all over the United States, but also pressured former Tennessee Gov. Buford Ellington to recognize Local 1733 and allow an automatic check-off of union dues from employees' paychecks.

Mr. Dinkins began his address by noting that Dr. King was a year younger than him. "So I know I'm living on borrowed time," the ex-Mayor said.

The Memphis workers, he said, were on strike for "bread-and-butter" issues such as basic wages and benefits. He noted that Dr. King dedicated his life to the ideal of social equality.

The former Mayor pointed out that there were several different union leaders and groups in attendance. "We are from different locals, but there comes a moment where we have to be part of one union," he remarked.

The memorial kicked off with a roaring ovation for USA President Harry Nespoli, who thanked Mayor Bloomberg and Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley for allowing Local 831 to negotiate the paid holiday.

Praise for Bloomberg

"The Mayor, he gives away nothing for nothing, believe me," Mr. Nespoli told the supportive crowd. "But this Mayor did something different. He didn't dismiss our demand."

Mr. Nespoli said Local 831 "moved money around" and extended the contract an extra six months and 19 days in order to finally obtain the day off and other supplemental benefits.

Mayor Bloomberg, who during his first campaign for office told reporters he believed Sanitation Workers had the most hazardous job in the city, once again highlighted the challenges they face in their daily routine.

"I have always been a big fan of you," he added. "Without you we wouldn't have the quality of life that we do."

'King's Still With Us'

All the speakers at the memorial stressed that Dr. King's message continued to resonate, despite his untimely death.

"Although his life was cut tragically short, his words and deeds stand with us today," Mr. Bloomberg said. "You are just as important in terms of taking what he said and making it a reality. The challenge never ends."

Outside the church in lower Manhattan, the Sanitation Workers gathered said that the day off was long overdue. "We've been trying to get this for years," said Larry Ormsby, a shop steward from Queens.

Sanitation Worker Sebastian Friscia noted that Dr. King died advocating for better working conditions for Sanitation Workers. "He did a lot for the struggle of Sanitation Workers," the Staten Island shop steward remarked. "It cost him his own life."

'This is an Education'

After the ceremony, veteran Sanitation Worker Willie Bryant was making his way through the crowd to catch a better glimpse of Mr. Epps and the others on the dais. "For younger members in the department, this is an education," he said. "So I'm glad, not just because I'm black and he was black, but because we are brothers who all do the same job."

The memorial, he added, helped him realize how much the work he does every day is valued by others. "When you are out on the street, you don't realize how appreciated you are," he remarked. "People pull up behind us and you are a hindrance to them, but then you see things like this."