MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - MEMPHIS, Tenn. - More than four decades after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis while backing striking sanitation workers, those who keep the city clean are again fighting for their jobs and dignity.
Memphis is considering privatizing its waste services, a move that could save about $25 million annually while eliminating about 250 jobs. The city council scheduled a meeting Tuesday on cost-cutting measures. Supporters say buyouts could be offered to more than 100 longtime workers.
The dispute arises as some state governments nationwide are pressing to strip unions of the kind of collective bargaining rights for public employees that King and others fought for.
Sixty-nine-year-old Memphis sanitation worker Cleophus Smith marched with King in 1968 and says a buyout is no substitute for a paying job.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
