IFPTE Honors
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 19, 2026
To All IFPTE Locals and Members:
Today, January 19, 2026, is a federal holiday in America that celebrates the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. Given all that is occurring across our nation on many fronts, including attacks on workers, particularly with federal employees and their Unions at the forefront, this holiday and acknowledgement of everything it stands for is as needed at this point in history as it has ever been.
Dr. King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. He arrived there for the purpose of walking the picket line to bring support to the city’s sanitation workers, represented by AFSCME, who were seeking not only to be recognized by the city as a union, but also to bring safe working conditions to the workers after several were killed on the job. The night before he was killed, Dr. King delivered his famous I’ve Been to the Mountaintop speech to the workers at the Masonic Temple in Memphis, where he said that:
“We’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We’ve got to see it through. And when we have our march, you need to be there. Be concerned about your brother. You may not be on strike. But either we go up together, or we go down together.”
It was as historic as it was prophetic, and it was one of the central events in Dr. King’s life that has forever linked our nation’s great Civil Rights Movement to our Labor Movement. Dr. King understood that labor unions were the single most important American institution in gaining equality for all workers from all walks of life. He knew that collective bargaining rights for workers neutralized the immense power that corporations and governments, such as those in Memphis had over working people. He knew that with strong unions came living wages, pensions, and health benefits that would benefit workers across all walks of life while lifting millions from poverty to prosperity. Simply stated, he knew that ‘All Work Has Dignity’.
Dr. King’s words and his actions are as relevant today as they have ever been. Decades ago, when he was leading the Civil Rights Movement, he knew that if given the opportunity and under certain circumstances, that corporate-backed politicians, along with politicians from the billionaire class, much like we have today at the highest levels of our government, would do everything in their power to prevent workers from exercising their constitutional right to organize unions and represent workers. Perhaps Dr. King said it best in 1961 regarding immoral right-to-work laws that are, sadly, pervasive across our nation today:
“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.”
Dr. King knew then, as we know now, that our fight to bring fairness for workers will be an enduring one, but one that we are more than capable of pursuing.
The Memphis sanitation workers ultimately brought their corrupt and racist mayor to his knees by winning their strike. Their union was formally recognized, they won living wages, and they won safety upgrades to protect their members’ lives and health. Most importantly, they showed the nation that even in the face of extreme racism at that time, Dr. King’s courage and his sacrifice were not in vain.
We at IFPTE, in solidarity with our Labor Movement and people across the nation, honor and celebrate Dr. King this year, and we hope that you will also take time to listen to that historic speech. And let us, as IFPTE members and Trade Unionists, continue to honor our unfettered partnership with the Civil Rights Movement through our actions while understanding that no fight is too big for us to conquer.
Happy MLK Day!
In Solidarity,
Matthew S. Biggs Gay Henson
President Secretary-Treasurer