Honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
A Message from IBEW Local 103
IBEW Local 103 wishes the residents of the Boston area a happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! While King was not a Boston native, the city played an essential role in shaping this national icon. Dr. King’s message of brotherhood, love, and non-violence are just as relevant today as they were in the 1950s and 1960s. His vision of hope is a potent antidote to the despair triggered by the challenges of the global pandemic and political strife. We can unlock our collective power for positive change by recognizing our linked fates. Dr. King holds a special place in my heart. He rightly pointed out how inequality threatens American democracy. Dividing people is the antithesis of the labor ideal of solidarity. He was a passionate union advocate, eloquently explaining the role and impact of organized labor. At the Illinois AFL-CIO Convention in 1965, Dr. King noted that, “the labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress.” He valued unions as the originators of anti-poverty programs, responsible for introducing the core elements of the modern American social safety net: Out of the [union movement’s] bold struggles, economic and social reform gave birth to unemployment insurance, old age pensions, government relief for the destitute, and, above all else, new wage levels that meant not mere survival but a tolerable life. – Martin Luther King Jr., 1965 Illinois AFL-CIO Convention Dr. King was a vocal champion of working men and women and the unions that represent them. Renowned labor leaders like A. Philip Randolph, Walter Reuther, and Bayard Rustin actively participated in the Civil Rights Movement. They convinced the labor movement to support the Civil Rights Movement. Labor leaders understood that economic justice, the raison d’être of the union movement, was a central pillar of the civil rights struggle. In 1941, A. Philip Randolph proposed a march on Washington to demand African American access to the war industries jobs. President Roosevelt responded by passing the Fair Employment Act, negating the need for the demonstration. A. Philip Randolph partnered with Dr. King to resurrect the idea of the protest as the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Unionists turned out in droves for the march. Even more critical, union members marched with Coretta Scott King to celebrate the life and cause of Dr. King following his assassination in 1968.