St. Petersburg sanitation strike of 1968

The St. Petersburg sanitation strike of 1968 (May 6, 1968 – August 30, 1968) was a labor strike by city sanitation workers in St. Petersburg, Florida that lasted an estimated four months. The strike of 1968 was one of three labor strikes that took place within three years by city sanitation workers, who cited grievances of pay inequality and poor working conditions. A wage dispute over a newly implemented 48-hour work week triggered the sanitation strike which lasted 116 days. 211 sanitation workers participated in the work stoppage, 210 of whom were African-American.^[1][2] The racial makeup of the strikers increased tensions surrounding the work stoppage and impaired social race relations in the city.Strikers participated in nonviolent marches, economic boycotts, picketing, and human blockades which eventually turned violent with four nights of riots.^[2][3][4] During the four-month strike, sanitation crew chief Joe Savage led nearly 40 marches down to City Hall, and participated in nonviolent protests which resulted in mass arrests.^[1][5] The strike gained the attention of local and national civil rights advocates, designating this as a significant event in the city's history.

The strike of 1968 began approximately one month after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was supporting a citywide labor strike by black sanitation workers (see also Memphis sanitation strike).^[5] Similarly, other sanitation worker strikes were taking place in New York City and Tampa.