Martin Luther King: A workers' champion

As we begin another new year, those of us committed to principles of solidarity pause to remember the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King, who was born on Jan. 15, 1929, led a movement whose goals were to end poverty and to see that all men and women have good jobs and decent living and working conditions.

He led a battle against the most wealthy and powerful in our society to see that working people and poor people received their fair share.

Dr. King was committed to removing the barriers that divide working and poor people -- barriers of race and sex discrimination -- and came to lead poor and working people by employing moral tactics of non-violent civil disobedience to bring about a decent life for all Americans.

This Nobel Peace Prize winner was slain on April 4, 1968 while assisting sanitation workers on strike in Memphis, Tenn. He was cut from the same cloth as labor leaders Eugene Debs and John L. Lewis. He always supported the labor movement and was always supported by it. One of his chief strategists, advisers and tacticians was rail labor leader A. Philip Randolph.

As the nation celebrates Martin Luther King Day this year, we should remind ourselves and others of some of the words Dr. King said. Here is some of what he declared about labor in general:

"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 to the destitute and, above all, new wage levels that meant not mere survival, but a tolerable life."

"The captains of industry did not lead the transformation to social progress; they resisted it until they were overcome. When in the '30s the wave of union organization crested over the nation, it carried to shore not only itself but the whole society."

Dr. King was quick to see through the "right-to-work" scam. Here is how he described it:

"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� Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone. Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer and there are no civil rights."

Did Dr. King think union representation was a valuable commodity? Listen to this:

"Union meant strength and union recognition meant the employer's acknowledgement of that strength and the two meant the opportunity to fight again for further gains with united and multiplied power. As contract followed contract, the pay envelope fattened and fringe benefits and job rights grew to the mature work standards of today. All of these started with winning first union recognition."

Finally, unionism was still on his mind just hours before his death in Memphis when he declared:

"Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point, in Memphis. We have got to see it through. Be concerned about your brother. You may not be on strike. But either we go up together, or we go down together."

� Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc.