- Home
- Introductory Essay
- Lives of the Sanitation Workers
- The Strike Begins
- Negotiations, Vigils, and Sandwiches
- The Macing March
- A Community Awakens
- A Nation Awakens
- Dr. King Arrives In Memphis
- Terrible Thursday
- The Men March, The Guards Watch
- I've Been To The Mountain Top
- Lorraine Motel
- Mourning
- Victory for Local 1733
- Impact on the South, 1968-1970
- Remembering Memphis
- Resources
- Credits/Contact
Impact on the South, 1968-1970
The success of the sanitation strike in Memphis inspired thousands of other city employees from around the Southern United States to stand up and demand dignity, respect and more importantly, collective bargaining in their workplace. The organizing drive in the South not only included sanitation workers but hospital and school employees, social workers and bus drivers.
Despite right-to-work laws and anti-union sentiment in the South, new AFSCME locals were organized in Baltimore and Charlotte, North Carolina. Local 1733 became the largest union in Memphis, and in Miami, sanitation workers gained one of the best union contracts in the nation.