Today on this Martin Luther King, Jr holiday, we have listed a few famous quotes from this great American Icon; a man whose life mission changed our nation for the better.
“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. We do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be stopped. Our weapon is our vote.” —Martin Luther King, speaking about right-to-work laws in 1961
“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.”-From a speech delivered Oct. 7. 1965, to the Illinois State AFL-CIO.
“If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them? That’s the question. Let us rise up tonight with a great readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination and let us move on in these powerful days of challenge to make America what it ought to be.” -Martin Luther King’s speech to Memphis sanitation workers, 1968
Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders lead a crowd of hundreds of thousands at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in August 1963. At this march King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream Speech.” Click here to go to the AFL-CIO website to read how the unions helped mobilize for that infamous gathering.