Martin Luther King Jr. Day has been observed as a national holiday since 1986, but the latest Bloomberg poll shows that most employees don’t get to observe it as a paid holiday. In a survey of 628 employers, only 32 percent said all or most of their employees get a paid holiday.
But really it depends on the type of employer: More than half of “non-business organizations” — like government offices, hospitals, schools and nonprofits — give employees the day off. On the other hand, only 7 percent of manufacturing companies do.
Here in Spokane, more than a thousand people gathered for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day march. A number of other events already happened this weekend, but tomorrow the University of Idaho is hosting a screening of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech at 12:30 pm to mark 50 years since the speech was delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. And on Wednesday at 11:30 am, Spokane Falls Community College is hosting an MLK Day celebration with DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
