[BwayDems] Martin Luther King Jr. Day . . . the fight goes on

[Paula Diamond Roman]

Forty-five years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., addressed a crowd of 
sanitation workers in Memphis with these words: "Do you know that most 
of the poor people in our country are working everyday? They are making 
wages so low that they cannot begin to function in the mainstream of the economic life of our nation. These are facts which must be seen. And it is criminal to have people working on a full-time basis and a full-time job getting part-time income."
 
Today, some of our elected officials, including Congressman Charles Rangel, Assemblyman Keith Wright and Councilmembers Inez Dickens and Mark Levineheeding his message, protested outside LaGuardia Airport demanding real wages 
and benefits for airport workers.
 
======================================================= 

 

Elected officials arrested at MLK
LaGuardia protest
Newsday, Laura Figueroa, January 20,
2014
 
Rep. Charles Rangel and a roster of
other New York City elected officials were arrested Monday as they protested outside
LaGuardia Airport demanding higher wages and paid holidays for airport workers.
 
Hundreds of members of the Service
Employees International Union Local 32BJ marched across the 94th Street and
Ditmars Boulevard bridge leading to LaGuardia rallying for Martin Luther King
Jr. Day to serve as a paid holiday. Union officials said many airport contract
workers, from security guards to those who clean inside airplanes, receive
minimum wage with no paid sick days or vacation time.
 
"I'm ready to get put in jail
today so that everyone will know that we're going to fight for decent wages,
we're going to fight for sick pay [and] we're going to fight for
pensions," Rangel (D-Harlem) told the crowd of workers in a speech before
the march.
 
Eight members of the New York City
Council also were arrested: Ydanis Rodriguez, Mark Levine, Jimmy Van Bramer, Inez Dickens, Carlos Menchaca, Ritchie Torres, I. Daneek Miller and Antonio
Reynoso.
 
NYPD officials on the scene said
they arrested 30 protesters on disorderly conduct charges after they sat down
and refused to leave the roadway. Those arrested included Assemb. Keith L.T.
Wright (D-Harlem) and union president Héctor J. Figueroa.
 
Council Speaker Melissa
Mark-Viverito, while not among those arrested, addressed the crowd, saying
"The City Council stands united to support you."
 
Public Advocate Letitia James
blasted airport contractors for paying wages that she said led to "too
many airport workers relying on public assistance." She called on the Port
Authority, which operates LaGuardia and Kennedy Airport, to intervene on behalf
of the workers and "do the right thing or else there will be
consequences."
 
In an email statement, Port
Authority officials said the agency "supports making Martin Luther King
Day a paid holiday for airport workers" and planned to "continue to
have discussions with the union, airlines, and other airport stakeholders
regarding this issue."
 
Prince Jackson, 56, of Jamaica,
Queens, said he works as a security guard at Kennedy Airport, making $8 an
hour, but has not received a raise in four years and is not entitled to paid
sick time.
 
"Martin Luther King Jr. was a
friend to the workers in his day, and the workers of today would like to be
able to commemorate his memory by fighting for our rights as employees,"
Jackson said.
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