Memphis Municipal Employees Federal Credit Union

The Memphis Public Works Credit Union was charted in February 1963 and organized to serve laborers who the city did not recognize. The city provided no benefits to mostly African American employees, who worked for the sanitation department. In November 1964 sanitation workers formed the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 1773, which was not recognized by the city. On February 1, 1968, a malfunctioning truck crushed garbage collectors Echol Cole and Robert Walker to death. Continued Cole and Walker's death led to the 1968 Sanitation Workers Strike joined by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King's support the strike ended with his assassination on April 4, 1968. In September 1973 the board of directors amended the Memphis Public Works Federal Credit Union charter and changed its name to Memphis Municipal Employees Federal Credit Union. As of 2023, the credit union had more than $16 million in assets. The City of Memphis congratulated the Memphis Municipal Employees Federal Credit Union and honored its 60th anniversary.