Unions and Workers Holding "We Are One" Solidarity Actions Across Pennsylvania as Part of Nationwide Worker Movement to Protect Collective Bargaining

United Mine Workers of America March/Rally Tomorrow in Greene County Expected to Draw Thousands of Supporters

HARRISBURG, Pa., March 31, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Working people and Labor Leaders will be joined by Leaders of the clergy, community, and elected officials in rallies and events across Pennsylvania in the coming weeks.

The events will serve to honor the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and his leadership in the battle for civil rights and economic justice, as well as to demonstrate support of collective bargaining rights, which are under attack in Wisconsin and across our country today.

On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, where he had gone to stand with sanitation workers demanding their dream: The right to bargain collectively for a voice at work and a better life.

These same rights that Dr. King died for are being threatened today by well-funded right wing corporate politicians in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and dozens of other states, including Pennsylvania. These groups use their money and influence to push their political agenda of trying to weaken unions and the middle class.

"These attacks on middle class families in state after state are not about the economy, a state budget, or helping business thrive. It's all about political payback and trying to weaken the voice of working families. Without unions there wouldn't be a middle class and there wouldn't be checks and balances on corporate greed and extremists who want to weaken unions and turn our nation into an economy of haves and have-nots," Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale said.

"This fight isn't about today's economic problems, it's about the future of our children and our grandchildren and whether they will have the opportunity to create good jobs for themselves and their families," Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder said.

On Friday, April 1st President Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Snyder will help lead a Solidarity March involving thousands of members of the United Mine Workers of America, as well as other workers from the Waynesburg Airport to a rally at the Greene County Fairgrounds. Cecil Roberts, President of the United Mine Workers; Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO; and William Burga, President of the Ohio AFL-CIO, are among the notables who will be speaking at the rally. The March and rally is one of many events that will be conducted over the next week.

Under the banner of "WE ARE ONE" thousands of people across Pennsylvania will be participating in forums, rallies, and actions to demonstrate their unity and commitment to defending their rights and protecting the living standards of all workers. There will be over 500 events across the nation. Pennsylvania's events can be accessed on the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO web-site at www.paaflcio.org.  

SOURCE Pennsylvania AFL-CIO