Labor Participates in MLK March/ Sanders Says King Supported Workers' Rights

Members of the SC AFL-CIO, Columbia Central Labor Council and a handful of volunteer supporters showed up on a frosty Monday morning to participate in the Martin Luther King, Jr., March to the Statehouse, followed by the 2019 King Day at the Dome Rally.

Speakers at the rally included presidential hopefuls Sen. Bernie Sanders(D-VT) and Sen. Cory Booker(D-NJ).

Sanders talked about the importance of helping working families, weeks into the government shutdown forced by Pres. Trump. He said that Americans should not forget that King was assasinated while he was in Memphis, specifically to support workers' rights following the death of two sanitation workers.

Booker said that it's wrong that a percentage of the hardest-working citizens in the richest country in the world suffer from a lack of appropriate health care. He said it's unfortunate that various forms of racism are still very much alive in the US. 

Later that week, labor supporters, including members of AFGE from around the state, protested at the Columbia Metro Airport, against the government shutdown, standing behind TSA workers there. Meanwhile, in the South Carolina Low Country members of the Charleston CLC held a protest at the same time at Sen. Lindsey Graham's office there.