Teamsters, Religious Leaders Unite to Continue Martin Luther King Jr.'s Fight for Worker Rights

National Committee for Sanitation Worker Justice Demands Safe Conditions at Waste Management

MEMPHIS, Tenn., April 3, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Teamsters and religious leaders from across the country stood in unity today with waste workers from 1968 and 2008 to demand Waste Management Inc. NYSE: WMI and other sanitation companies make immediate and substantive improvements in worker safety.

The Teamsters and religious leaders announced at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Memphis, Tennessee, the formation of the National Committee for Sanitation Worker Justice (NCSWJ). The coalition was formed by Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) in response to the findings of the investigative report, "In Harm's Way," which was issued last month by the National Commission of Inquiry into the Worker Health and Safety Crisis in the Solid Waste Industry. The report shows that waste workers still face very real threats to their health on a daily basis, threats that have caused an average of more than

80 deaths a year in this industry.

"Forty years ago Dr. King joined with the maligned and abused sanitation workers of Memphis to insist on human dignity and economic justice," said Rev. Nelson Johnson, Director of the Beloved Community Center in Greensboro, North Carolina, Co-President of the Board of IWJ and Co-Chair of the NCSWJ. "The 40th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination ought to serve as a clarion call to faith leaders and people of good will all over the nation to join together to complete the unfinished work for which Dr. King courageously gave his life."

"Today's plantation capitalism is as rapacious and cruel as it was in the sanitation strike 40 years go, which I chaired," said Rev. James Lawson, pastor emeritus of the Centenary Methodist Church in Memphis and renowned civil rights leader. "It is past time for this most religious country, this most religious people, to repudiate the economics of the plantation. Jesus insisted that without justice you miss the meaning of the Torah and the prophets."

The family of deceased Waste Management, Inc. (WMI) mechanic Raul Figueroa from West Palm Beach, Florida, joined SWJC, 1968 strikers, safety advocates and representatives from the Teamsters Union at the press conference to show their support for the goals of the committee.

Figueroa was the victim of an accident on January 3, 2008 at the North Broward Waste Management facility when a hydraulic arm on the truck malfunctioned, pinning him against the cab and severing his body in half. His family hopes to enact real change at WMI by partnering with the Teamsters Union and other concerned advocates like the NCSWJ to prevent Figueroa's fate from befalling other workers in the sanitation industry.

Figueroa's family was also showed their support at the launch of "In Harm's Way" in Miami, Florida on March 25, 2008. It is their hope that through raising awareness of the safety problems that currently plague the solid waste industry through the report and the efforts of SWJC real change can be made that will reduce injures and save lives.

"We hope that through our joint and continuous efforts with the Teamsters and the SWJC we can finally bring about regulations in this industry," said Alina Miranda, widow of Raul Figueroa. "We hope that Waste Management finally realizes that their employees are not just numbers, but human beings and as such they pay attention to their basic needs, needs such as parts, tools or safety equipment that could be the difference between life and death."

The National Commission of Inquiry into the Worker Health and Safety Crisis in the Solid Waste Industry launched an investigation into safety issues at WMI and found systemic problems within the company, characterizing WMI's safety program as using an "archaic, misguided approach".

The commission conducted a series of in-depth interviews with solid waste drivers, mechanics and other workers at WMI. With the workers' help, an anonymous questionnaire was created and distributed to hundreds of sanitation workers across the country and formed the foundation for the findings in this report.

The report found that 40 years after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life in an effort to fight for civil and worker rights for striking sanitation workers in Memphis, the same issues that led to the strike remain prevalent in the industry even today. The questionnaire revealed that commonplace issues for workers in the industry that are part of their daily routine include long hours and the handling of hazardous materials without proper safety equipment.

"When Memphis sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker died on February 1, 1968 it set in motion a series of events that saw an entire nation swept up in a battle for basic civil and worker rights," said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. "The issues in this industry that Dr. King died fighting for, and the 1968 strikers stood united against, still remain at Waste Management. By working with the National Committee for Sanitation Worker Justice, our union has gained an invaluable ally in the fight to change the course of this industry."

The NCSWJ is comprised of religious leaders from across the country and from many different denominations. The leaders have come together to demand safe working conditions at WMI and other solid waste companies.

Interfaith Worker Justice is an organization that calls upon religious values in order to educate, organize, and mobilize the religious community in the U.S. on issues and campaigns that will improve wages, benefits, and working conditions for workers, especially low-wage workers.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.