Tennessee – AFSCME Mourns Loss of True Hero: Joe Warren
Joe Warren, a civil rights activist and one of the original sanitation workers who participated in the historic 1968 strike in Memphis, Tenn., passed away in July. He was 91.
“Joe Warren was a true hero, a champion in both the civil rights and labor movements,” Pres. Lee Saunders said. “His vision and his leadership made a real difference in the history of our union and our country. At AFSCME, our hearts go out to his family and friends. The challenges Brother Warren overcame in his many years of activism will continue to inspire us for years to come.”
Warren was one of 1,300 sanitation workers – members of AFSCME Local 1733 – who participated in the strike for better wages and recognition of their union, formed in 1964. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Memphis to support the strikers – his final campaign for workers’ rights – before he was assassinated there, shortly before the strike was settled.
A founding member of Local 1733, Warren was a crusader for workers’ rights. It is even said that he created the now-famous slogan, “I am a man.” When 33 sanitation workers were fired in 1965, he organized house meetings and fought to get those jobs back. All 1,300 sanitation strikers were enshrined last year into the U.S. Department of Labor’s “Labor Hall of Fame” and Pres. Barack Obama met with Warren.
AFSCME remembers two other great leaders of Local 1733, Rev. James E. Smith and Willie Joe Alexander. Rev. Smith was executive director of Local 1733 from 1969 to 1993, and passed away Sept. 9, at the age of 71. Alexander was president of Local 1733 from 1994 to 2001, and died Sept. 6, at the age of 72.
