The Michigan Legislature Should Honor Dr. King's Legacy by Rejecting an Anti-Worker Bill

This week, as we honor the work of and the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we must remember that to meaningfully honor his legacy means to uplift his work fighting for working class communities through race and class solidarity, his critical work in the labor movement, and his efforts to ensure people understood that racial justice was deeply intertwined with economic justice. In fact, labor rights were so deeply entrenched in Dr. King's work that it is the right of the individual worker that brought him to Memphis before he was assassinated.

In February 1968, two Memphis garbage collectors, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death by a malfunctioning garbage truck. Following their preventable death, Black workers across the city went on strike to protest the long history of neglect and abuse of its Black employees. It was a tale as old as time: greedy CEOs and corporations with a history of forcing workers into unsafe working conditions and putting the safety of these workers at risk, and fed up labor leaders who were sick of being mistreated. Dr. King came to Memphis to show support for these striking workers, and addressed a crowd of 25,000 in Memphis.

This was not his first time standing up for the rights of the worker. While addressing the Illinois AFL-CIO in 1965, King quipped: "The two most dynamic movements that reshaped the nation during the past three decades are the labor and civil rights movements. Our combined strength is potentially enormous." And he was right. And the big corporations and wealthy elites of this country know it. That's why they have been fighting so hard against class solidarity and against worker protections

The choice before us is clear: We can stand with working families, or we can roll back essential protections that Michiganders have fought hard to secure.

We deserve an economy that works for all of us, especially working class people that are critical to keeping our economy afloat. A nation's economy must do more than just help people survive: it should take active measures to level the playing field. It should allow people to choose where and how to live. And it should enable them to pass on their wealth to the next generation.

In Michigan, instead of fighting to uplift working class families and make this vision a reality, the Michigan state legislature dishonors both their commitment to Michigan families and the legacy of MLK Jr. by working to pass an anti-worker bill known as the Earned Sick Time Act. This legislation is a red-herring claiming to fight for small businesses while stripping employees at those businesses of their rights. If passed, this bill would limit the upward economic mobility of workers at small businesses as well as part-time workers, reduce paid time off, and strip workers of protections they may otherwise be entitled to under state and federal labor laws.

In other words, this bill deprioritizes workers at a time when Michigan families, Black mothers, and caregivers of color are struggling with rising costs. With so many of us feeling the squeeze at the grocery store while searching for child or eldercare, paying rent, or helping our kids afford college, elected officials should be working to level the playing field, not widening income disparities. The choice before us is clear: We can stand with working families, or we can roll back essential protections that Michiganders have fought hard to secure. I choose to stand with working families, and I urge our elected officials in the state to do the same by voting no on the Earned Sick Time Act.

The bill's proposed changes to earned paid sick time would make it harder for workers to care for themselves and their families. Right now, more than 1.7 million Michigan workers lack access to even one hour of paid sick time. This isn't just a statistic—it represents real families in our districts making impossible choices between their health, their safety, and their paycheck. The Earned Sick Time Act would worsen this crisis by reducing protections for thousands more workers, forcing them to choose between coming into work sick and risking the health of those around them, and keeping food on the table.

The most troubling part is this fight we are faced with in Michigan is not unique. All across the country, we are seeing billionaires and dark money groups working to strip people of their rights and their ability to provide for their families. It reminds us of a very simple truth: The American Dream is not attainable for a majority of Americans, nor has it ever been. The myths politicians tell us have been harmful to real progress. They say that if you work hard enough, you too can get rich. But this "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" idea has failed us. It keeps us trapped in uncertainty and instability while the rich get richer and we fight among ourselves. That's why I am calling on Michigan leadership to ensure a bill that would further move the goalpost of what the American Dream could be does not pass. We can do better for each other than this.

A resilient economy is a collaborative effort, not a competition. We can have a nation free of bigotry, provide for people while they are ill, and help people access prosperity and opportunity. It's not a zero-sum game. Dr. King's life was a testament to this. He was dedicated to the fight for economic justice, fair wages, and labor rights, in addition to racial justice and equality. He gave everything, including his life, to this mission. We must ensure his legacy lives on by picking up his mantle. We must have the political courage to fight back against corporate interests and with the people that brought elected leaders to power.

In our interconnected world, our success depends on our neighbors' success. So let's succeed by uplifting each other. As we brace ourselves for what will come under a Trump administration, it's more important than ever that we stand together.