Teamsters from across the country honored Martin Luther King Jr. on his birthday in January, including those in Seattle and in Atlanta who marched during community events.

In Seattle, Local 117 joined thousands of community members for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day March and Rally, where participants called for a higher minimum wage in Seattle.

“Our members are continuing on with Dr. King’s vision of fighting for workers’ rights by calling for a $15 minimum wage in Seattle,” said Cetris Tucker, Vice President of Local 117’s executive board. Tucker also serves as Secretary-Treasurer of Joint Council 28 Black Teamsters United, a caucus of union members dedicated to providing Teamsters an opportunity to be inclusive in an environment that will enrich, embrace and respect the diversity of its members.

In Atlanta, where King was born, about 200 Teamsters and family members from Local 728 and about 150 from Local 528 participated in the annual march.

Many different Teamsters participated, including waste workers from Republic Services; employees of Gate Gourmet, which provides food and beverages to airline passengers; workers from Iron Mountain, which provides data and records management; and the new union members from DeKalb County sanitation.

Many participants in Atlanta carried signs which read “I am still a man,” honoring the striking sanitation workers in Memphis that King visited shortly before he was killed in that city in April of 1968.

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