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Walter Cronkite news cut-in on death of Martin Luther King (Memphis) Local AFSCME members, and members from around the country, gathered at the corner of Beale Street and Danny Thomas Thursday morning. City and county leaders renamed a portion of the street, ‘1968 Strikers Lane’. “It’s ironic that in 1968 the sanitation workers went on strike to have their voices heard for dignity and respect on the job and we are continuing that fight in Memphis today,” said national AFSCME president Lee Saunders. Following the street renaming, hundreds of workers led by Martin Luther King III marched down Beale Street and then onto South Main towards the National Civil Rights Museum. They were joined along the way by hundreds of members from the Memphis Fire Fighters Association. “It’s crazy that now that the workers are being mistreated 45 years after my father’s death. We should be beyond incensed,” said Martin Luther King III. “I’m very sad that our country has come to this junction and the organizers have always been representing the people. Now corporations are intent on getting rid of the organizers that are keeping the people and their rights protected,” said King III. City workers were hoping that Memphis City leaders hear the message as they work to have the 4.6 percent that was cut from city workers pay two years ago restored. “I think they all forget about that as they sit up there in their offices, with their furnished lunches, driving their company cars and they forget about the little guys that keep them running every day,” said Tammy Burgess, the wife of a Memphis Fire Fighter. The events in Dr. King’s honor continue this evening at the National Civil Rights Museum for a wreath laying at 5:30.