Sanitation workers’ strike recalled in Memphis, other cities

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Sanitation workers who went on a strike that brought Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, Tennessee, 50 years ago are being remembered as courageous men who made important contributions to the civil rights movement.

A handful of sanitation workers who marched in Memphis demanding higher pay and safer working conditions attended a ceremony Thursday honoring two colleagues killed by a malfunctioning garbage truck on Feb. 1, 1968.

Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees laid two wreaths at a historical marker near the site where Echol Cole and Robert Walker died.

King came to Memphis to support the strike. He was fatally shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968.

Other cities planned events to honor the workers on Thursday.