(Above, and below) Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Cathedral International, Perth Amboy 1/15/18 *Photos by Eric Salvary

One of the harshest realities in life is when you lose a job. One of the worst cases is when that job loss is totally unexpected. This happened recently when Walmart closed a large amount of their Sam’s Club locations without their employees knowing in advance.

The following words were spoken by the late Dr. Martin Luther King. This was in an article written by Peter Dreier in Common Dreams at www.commondreams.org

One of Dr. King’s last marches was the Campaign for Worker’s rights. This was to support African-American Garbage workers who were on strike to protest unsafe conditions and at the same time abusive supervisors, low wages, and to gain recognition for the union. Their sign said: “I am a man.”

The Civil Rights Union and the Labor Movements were very much connected. Here are some exerts that Dr. Martin Luther King said in his address to the AFL-CIO at the 1961 Convention: “Our needs are identical with labors’ needs. Decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children, and respect in the community.”

Other words that he spoke: “What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn’t earn enough money to buy a hamburger and a cup of coffee?”

At the time, King observed: “Negros are not the only poor in the nation. There is nearly twice as many white poor as Negro, and therefore the struggle against poverty is not involved solely with color or racial discrimination, but with elementary economic justice.”

If Dr. King were alive today, what would he think about the situation where union workers were totally taken off guard and not given ample notice about a job loss? You would think in the year heading into 2018, this would not be an issue. Unfortunately, it is. We salute the message that Dr. King spoke so many years ago. In this day and age, workers should at least be given the respect of proper notification of termination. This should not be happening. C.M.