AFSCME Colorado Honors MLK Day by Lifting Up Workers’ Voices

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, AFSCME members across Colorado came together to honor Dr. King’s fight for civil rights and economic justice. 

AFSCME Colorado members and supporters attended the Denver MLK Day Parade earlier in the day, standing alongside community partners to celebrate the ongoing fight for civil rights and worker power. 

Later that day, Boulder Public Library workers joined Robert Lindgren on KGNU’s Labor Exchange, speaking directly about why dignity on the job matters for public sector workers. 

“We all do different jobs. We all have different callings in our lives, and we end up in different places. Everyone deserves these protections,” said custodian Michael Serrano on the program. “To have a safe workplace, a livelihood to live in these communities, and to be recognized as people — people doing the jobs that need to be done, and people who have these rights.” 

Workers told listeners that support for their union has been overwhelming, with a supermajority of coworkers standing together as they work to win union recognition. 

Rachel Levine, a librarian at Boulder Public Library, said her favorite part of the journey has been connecting with coworkers across the library system. “Getting to know people across different areas of the library has been one of my favorite parts,” Levine said. Serrano agreed. “We’re here for the work we do for the community. We all share the same values.” 

That fight for dignity on the job was something Dr. King believed in until his last breath. 

Adrian Rogers, president of AFSCME Local 1733 in Memphis, Tennessee, spoke on the program about how deep that connection runs. The local gained union recognition during the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike, when Dr. King traveled to Memphis to support sanitation workers. There, he delivered his final speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” and was assassinated soon after. Dr. King’s final act was standing with workers fighting for dignity on the job. 

That connection lives on today. Workers in Boulder are carrying forward Dr. King’s legacy of solidarity decades later as they continue their fight for union recognition. 

If you’d like to listen to the full episode, as well as a bonus episode featuring an in-depth interview with Adrian about the history of the 1968 Sanitation Strike, visit KGNU’s webpage or search “Labor Exchange” on podcast platforms.