*List of actions in different Southern cities in formation*
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr gave his life standing with striking sanitation workers in Memphis, TN, fighting against racism and for living wages and collective bargaining for workers in the South. Dr. King stood with workers and for an end to wars on oppressed peoples around the globe – today we must do the same as we struggle for worker power and a ceasefire in the war on Gaza.
Continue his fighting legacy with collective action to defend workers rights and build power on the job and in our communities!
Workers across the South are coming together to mark the Dr. King Day 2024 Holiday Weekend – January 13 – 16 – with actions to uplift the many struggles we are engaged in today and immediate demands connected to the Southern Worker Power Program. We encourage activity to connect to the points and demands of the program that are most pressing in your workplace and city in which you live.
As we head into the election year of 2024, we are seeing a full scale assault on our rights and our ability to live: from low wages and rising costs, attacks on teachers and public education, skyrocketing housing and healthcare costs, scapegoating of migrant workers, attacks on abortion rights, racist efforts to undermine democratic rights, funding for war instead of our communities, and much more. Neither party has a plan to address these issues nor represents our interests. That’s why workers are coming together to speak in our own voice to raise up our demands!
These actions can take many forms: sticker days at work, marches on the boss to deliver a petition of demands, public forums and actions that bring together various workplaces to uplift common demands, organizing a workers’ contingent in planned marches, and more.
Submit your planned action here or by emailing info@southernworker.org.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out against the U.S. war in Vietnam, saying that “war is the enemy of poor and working people,” and that the triple evils of racism, poverty, and militarism were to blame for the suffering of workers in the United States. Today, as the U.S. sends billions of dollars in military aid and equipment to Israel to carry out a brutal war against the Palestinian people, we must also raise a strong opposition to say: Money for workers’ needs, not for war!
King’s unifying call that “all labor has dignity” is today being carried forth, especially by young workers exploited by the likes of Starbucks and Amazon, Dollar General and McDonald’s. These workers are leading the way for all workers class-wide, demanding better working conditions, pay and benefits through organizing for more rights and power on the job.
This is the true meaning of the legacy of Dr. King, who remained a fighter on the front lines for all forms of social justice until the end. Mark Dr. King Day 2024 with a renewed commitment to struggle as we move into the year ahead.
Southern Workers Assembly
southernworker.org | info@southernworker.org
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 
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