QUOLKE’S CORNER #92
WE ARE ONE
Monday, April 4 marks the 43rd anniversary of the day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. Forty three years ago Dr. King was supporting sanitation workers in their right to organize and bargain. Dr. King saw collective bargaining as a civil right.
It is hard to believe that 43 years later we are fighting the same battles as the generation before us. It is hard to believe that we are in the fight for the life of the worker and the middle class. As Senate Bill 5 makes its way to the voters of Ohio in November – it will be clear that this law is NOT about the budget. This law is NOT about shared sacrifice. This law IS about breaking the union. This law IS about making the state of Ohio a right-to-work state.
Dr. King said this about a right to work state:
“In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as ‘right-to-work.’ If provides no ‘rights’ and no ‘works.’ Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining…We demand this fraud be stopped.”
We will stand with all Ohioans, all workers, and all families and demand the fraud of SB 5 be stopped. We can’t go back – we won’t go back.
I would like to invite each and every one of you to join the Cleveland Teachers Union, the North Shore Federation of Labor, the NAACP, local clergy, Jobs with Justice, local leaders, and many others as we gather with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) for its annual March in Memory of Martin on Monday, April 4. We will march together starting at the Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church 1161 East 105th Street (Kick off at 5:30p.m.). This will be followed by a dinner.
All across the country events like this will be taking place to honor a man who meant so much to so many people, who made a difference in so many lives. A man who showed by his words and actions that collective bargaining is a civil right.
In Union,
David