Forty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King lost his life supporting striking sanitation workers, the civil rights and labor movements remain united and intertwined, said American Federation of Teachers President Ed McElroy.

McElroy, who was in Memphis, Tenn., last Saturday to mark the 40th anniversary of King's death, said the fight for freedom, equality, dignity and economic justice is just as crucial today as it was 40 years ago.

He recounted one of his favorite quotes from King: "What good is it to sit at a lunch counter if you can't afford a hamburger?"

McElroy praised NYSUT for its work on social justice issues, noting the union's effort to end the achievement gap is a national model. Other "civil rights" issues unionists must continue to fight for include decent health care, housing and education; raising the minimum wage; and working for a fairer economy.

NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi paid tribute to McElroy, who will retire as AFT president at the national union's convention this summer. McElroy called NYSUT the "backbone" of AFT and the American labor movement.

He thanked NYSUT members for their strong support of AFT's effort to slow down reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. "We would not have been able to stop the assault without you," McElroy said.