In honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s fight for workers' rights, former employees of a local sanitation company protested Monday for back pay they say they were owed before it closed.

Sanitation Salvage surrendered its license to operate in November following months of community protests and government investigations. 

City officials say the company is responsible for two deaths over the past few years. They say one driver fatally struck a fellow employee and the same driver fatally hit a pedestrian.

The coalition representing the workers showed their support.

"People shouldn't have to work a full-time job, give their service to a company, and then they get to shut down and then forget about the workers. This is not right," says campaign director Chio Valerio.

More former employees say they were left stranded with no courtesy warning to find another job. Some even came in to work on the same day the license was surrendered.

The protest's overall message was to call on the company to do the right thing and pay workers what they are owed.

News 12 reached out to Sanitation Salvage but has not heard back.