IWW's Annual MLK Jr. Day March, NYC '09.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Above is the YouTube of the IWW's annual Martin Luther King Jr. day march posted by Fellow Worker and videographer Diane (dianedymedia). Featured in the video are IWW union organizers Stephanie Bastille and Liberte Locke and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra.

The march kicked off from the New York headquarters of Starbucks Coffee at 33rd and 5th Ave in Manhattan. Before the march there was a small rally with speeches from IWW organizers Stephanie Bastille and Liberte Locke. One of the main messages of the rally was demanding that Starbucks Coffee honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by paying time and a half on Dr. King's holiday.

Fellow Worker Stephanie Bastille gave a well-researched and impassioned speech on the nature of wage-slavery and the need for organizing in the workplace. Union barista Liberte Locke ad libbed a passionate rant against Starbucks corporate greed. Locke railed against the hypocrisy of Starbucks drastically cutting labor hours and closing 600 stores while at the same time buying a 45 million dollar private jet for the CEOs and chief financial officers.

Locke also went off on Starbucks for their refusal to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by refusing to paying time and a half on Dr. King's birthday. Locke expressed how much Dr. King's words meant to her when she was growing up poor, often homeless and her mom, a single mother, would quote them to her. Her mother knew that when Dr. King fought for civil rights he was fighting for the civil rights of everyone.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for both racial equality and economic equality. He fought for the poor, the working poor and spoke out on behalf of single mothers. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday belongs to all of us, regardless of what color skin we're livin' in.

After the rally in front of the New York Headquarters of Starbucks we marched to a retail outlet of Wild Edibles, a seafood packaging company based in Queens and Brooklyn whose largely immigrant workforce is kept in sweatshop conditions and are not treated with even a shred of human dignity. The workers at Wild Edibles are often locked inside the plant. When the workers started to organize themselves the bosses retaliated with illegal and unethical union busting tactics, including firing all open IWW members.

We marched to Wild Edibles with the Rude Mechanical Orchestra playing the whole way. Rude Mechanical Orchestra is a protest marching band that plays everything from Italian anti-fascist resistance ballads such as "Bella Ciao" to cross-dressing heavy metalists Twisted Sister's anti-authority classic "We're Not Going to Take It!"

When we got to Wild Edibles they were conveniently closed for the day "for repairs." The bosses too embarrassed to even show their faces, IWW members rallied outside the store anyway. At least the neighboring businesses and passers-by now know what scumbags they are.

"E questo il fiore del partigiano morto per la liberta! (and this is the flower of the partisan who died for freedom's sake!)"

"Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao!!!"