State Senator Art Haywood released the following statement in preparation for MLK Day 2018:
“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable…. Every step towards the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.” MLK Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. faced extreme adversity during his lifetime. He was arrested over 30 times in the fight against racial segregation. His home was firebombed. He faced constant death threats. He was called unpatriotic, a communist, an Uncle Tom, and a sell-out. In 1966 he had a 66% unfavorable rating according to the Gallup poll. Through it all, he led the nonviolent direct-action struggle that defeated the white segregationists that ruled America after the Civil War.
We honored the life of Dr. King with a nonviolent direct-action for decent pay at the CVS Pharmacy on Lincoln Drive and Mt. Pleasant. CVS pays under a living wage of $15 per hour and we are told as little as the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, $290 gross per week. This is poverty pay. However, CVS is reportedly receiving over one billion dollars in new tax cuts. Now is the time for CVS to honor hardworking people with adequate pay.
In the 1963 March on Washington Dr. King and the organizers called for raising the minimum wage. The day before his death, Dr. King supported striking sanitation workers in Memphis demanding that the city to start to pay fair wages and provide safe working conditions. Please join us in our ongoing effort to raise pay at CVS and across Pennsylvania.