Teamsters echo King's rallying cry in CO, OH, NY, WI, NV



Ohio Teamsters march in the annual MLK parade in Cleveland.

 Thousands of Teamsters joined the great wave of demonstrations for workers' rights throughout America yesterday, in the streets, the parks, the churches and the statehouses.

In Cleveland, Brother Fred Crow reports:

Attended two events in Cleveland today in some awful weather, for our first event which was put together by AFGE, we had our Ohio Conference Truck in attendence so we could use the stage for our "outdoor" rally. Well to make a long story short, due to the wind, rain, lightning, etc. we moved the rally inside, where we had a great rally, that filled the AFGE union hall, and guest speaker Betty Sutton!

Rally 2 Cleveland, Ohio The weather still awful, We still marched and had a great rally in the Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church!

Teamsters came out to a rally at City Park in Denver, Colo. KDVR-TV has the story.

Several hundred Colorado teachers, firefighters and pipe-fitters gathered in City Park Monday night to channel inspiration from the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King toward their own battle for worker's rights...Less than a month after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker eliminated collective bargaining for union workers there, Colorado's teamsters believe that unions everywhere are under attack.

We saw Pennsylvania Teamsters at an energetic rally in Pittsburgh, captured here on youtube, and Local 776 got to showcase its new semi in Harrisburg.

Brother Tom Bennett, president of Local  200 in Milwaukee, shared this photo of the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the "Memphis to Madison" rally in Wisconsin. Bennett writes:

Local 200 at the Memphis to Madison Rally on 4.4.11 as Rev. Jackson energizes the crowd of thousands and then a moment to honor MLK at the moment in time when his death came upon him.

In Newburgh, N.Y., Local 445 held a rallyat the intersection of Rte. 300 and Rte. 17K. We have this picture:

And in Nevada, Teamsters joined what the Las Vegas Sun called a "motley" group

...of about 500 activists from unions across the valley that gathered under the late afternoon sun Monday to protest budget cuts proposed by Gov. Brian Sandoval.

From steelworkers and boilermakers to firefighters and elevator construction workers, they assembled in a parking lot at the College of Southern Nevada’s Charleston campus, waving signs and chanting slogans.

Despite their different backgrounds, the union activists who gathered for the national “We are One, Respect our Rights” rally held in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a cohesive message: stop education cuts and save collective bargaining.

Teamsters joined the Las Vegas rally.

Still more to come!