Union supporters in Ohio rally invoke MLK memory

CLEVELAND (AP) — About 300 union supporters chanted “we are one” and denounced Gov. John Kasich at a rally that linked the fight for public employee collective bargaining rights to the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Unions across Ohio are had rallies to mark today’s 43rd anniversary of King’s assassination in Memphis, Tenn., where he was backing a strike by sanitation workers. At a rally in downtown Cleveland, workers vowed to block the bill Kasich signed last week that bans public worker strikes, eliminates binding arbitration and restricts bargaining for 350,000 public employees.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton said Republicans are trying to silence workers at the bargaining table.

The event was part of a coast-to-coast effort to link union representation to King’s message of equality.