The Memphis Sanitation Strike On Monday, Feb. 12, 1968, 1,300
black sanitation workers in Memphis walked off their jobs. Their
union was the American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees (AFL-CIO). The strike had started over a sewer
worker's grievance. Twenty-two black employees of that
department who reported for work on Jan. 31 were sent home when
it began raining. White employees were not sent home, and when
the rain stopped after an hour or so, were put out to work and
paid for the full day. After the black workers complained, the
city tried to mollify them by paying them for two hours' work.
The union demands were: better pay and working conditions,
recognition of the union and a system of dues checkoff. The
mayor of Memphis, Henry Loeb, refused to recognize the union,
maintained that the strike was illegal and refused to discuss
the workers' grievances until after they returned to work. In
addition, Memphis blacks felt deeply offended by the racist
attitude of a cartoon in the local pape