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Commemorating today's 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream speech", UNI Global Union General Secretary, Philip Jennings said, "What Martin Luther King did on that hot August afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington was capture in one speech, so many strands of hurt being felt by America at that point in its history.



“His speech was as much an indictment of the failures of the American political and economic system as it was a hymn to the American dream.



“King called on Washington to honour its debt to the workers of America both black and white. For him labour rights were an inalienable part of civil rights. It was not a coincidence that the night before his assassination less than four years after this historic speech, he was addressing striking sanitation workers.



“His commitment to labour rights was total and his words echo through the ages and are relevant for all times."



Read Philip Jennings's full article in Huffington Post here



Listen and read complete speech here



Quote from Martin Luther King's "I have a dream speech" 28 August 2013, Lincoln Memorial, Washington.



"In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."