More than 500 unionists and activists gathered this weekend in Greensboro, North Carolina for the AFL-CIO's Dr. Martin Luther King Holiday Observance event, and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the famous sit-ins at a Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter.

Nearly 70 TWU members participated in the eventful weekend, which included speakers, a town hall meeting on unemployment and jobs, panels, workshops, music and a community service project on Friday, January 12. Watch and hear from TWU members who volunteered their time to the project in the video above.

Members from more than 25 different unions joined together for the service project at a distribution center called the Welfare Reform Liaison Project. At 7 a.m. on Friday busloads of union members arrived at the large center and were assigned tasks that helped prepare items like school supplies, daily necessities and jackets to be distributed for free or at a reduced cost to Greensboro community members in need. Many TWU members and officers spent the morning sorting boxes of school uniforms for children.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to help a lot of people who are less fortunate," said Louis King, a shop steward from TWU Local 514. "I am happy to have a chance to physically participate in the community service today."

The three surviving members of the monumental Woolworth sit-ins, the "Greensboro four," spoke on a panel on Saturday morning. The three, Joseph McNeil, Jibreel Khazan and Franklin McCain, spoke about their brave decision to stand up for their rights on February 1, 1960, their experience starting the sit-in movement and the lasting impact their actions had, and continue to have, in this country.

Unionists celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King's memory, vision and the progress the country has made since the Greensboro sit-ins, but they also engaged in serious, intellectual, and, at times, heart-breaking discussions about the work that still needs to be done to achieve true social and economic justice for all people.

More on panels, discussions and speakers to come on www.twu.org. Watch for videos and articles this week to learn more about the important work that union brothers and sisters from across the country performed this weekend in honor of Dr. King, his memory and his work.

TWU's Decades of ‘Principled Support’

The TWU's participation in the AFL-CIO's MLK event is one way it continues to support civil and human rights. From its founding in 1934, the TWU has fought for equal treatment for all members and citizens. That commitment produced landmark contracts through the years, establishing equal pay and opportunities for all members, regardless of race or creed. During the turbulent ‘60s, TWU and others in the labor movement joined Dr. King and other civil rights advocates in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery, Alabama march, the 1968 March on Washington and other historic events of the day.

Roosevelt Watts, TWU’s first African-American International Secretary-Treasurer, said he looked backed proudly on TWU’s decades of “principled support” for the civil rights struggle -- “with our prestige, money and manpower.”
The union’s support for civil rights continues today in the work of TWU’s Civil & Human Rights Department, under the direction of Sandra Burleson, and its participation in the AFL-CIO’s yearly tribute to the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. One of TWU’s most memorable and proudest moments came in 1961 when Dr. King delivered a moving keynote address to the union’s convention, praising TWU for its dedication to the cause of equal rights and liberties for all people. The union’s current leaders take great pride that TWU continues to be a part of achieving Dr. King’s dream.