Sanitation workers thank Martin Luther King, Jr. for the work he did for them in the 1960s

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The night before Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis in 1968, he marched  there to support striking sanitation workers.

Workers then didn't have good pay, good benefits or equality in the workplace, but today that's changed.

Vincent Askins may not be on his living room couch relaxing this holiday, but he does have a seat.

"The ride in the garbage truck is not like a Cadillac," Askins said. "It's a little rough. It would have been nice to have the holiday off, but it feels nice to work."

The Waste Pro garbage man, who somehow has become use to the smell, is a product of the work of Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We've come a long way," Askins said. "There were times where you couldn't get a job like this."

A job that's safe, pays a decent wage and gives good benefits.

Advantages sanitation workers didn't have back in the 1960s, but they were advantages Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for during the civil rights movement.

"I'm glad that he marched and gave us the choices we can make and equal opportunity for everybody," Askins said.

The same equal opportunity, that has allowed Askins to be promoted to drive the truck and manage a team of employees.

"I don't think I would have got moved up to be a driver or anything," he said. "Unless I just had a rabbit's foot in my pocket and just got lucky."

Fortunately, his luck was a man named Martin Luther King, Jr.

The man who worked for people like Askins.