Here at the Prospect, we've been wondering whether the surge organized labor saw in Wisconsin could be sustained and even spread across the country. Now, Chris Good at The Atlantic says unions are trying to organize rallies on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in Memphis. King was in Memphis to help sanitation workers. After organizing rallies around the country during Wisconsin's legislative fight over collective bargaining, the labor movement will try to make April 4 a massive day of nationwide mobilization. The AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the National Education Association (NEA), and other unions are organizing rallies across the country on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination. So far, Republicans have been pretty good at separating the down-and-out, trying to portray union workers as greedy do-nothings who have all the advantages. Whether the nonunionized workers start to see the uneven distribution of wealth as something that unions could have a role in trying to tackle is another question. So is whether we can ever overcome the role racism plays in keeping unions out of the South. Regardless, maybe these are questions we'll start addressing now.
