Responding to the widespread, record devastation from Hurricane Katrina in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, the AFL-CIO established a relief center in a Communications Workers hall in Jackson, Miss., and planned other efforts as well.
Details about how to help are at www.aflcio.org/hurricane, said Judy Parkins, a field mobilization worker who is coordinating the federation?s effort with the United Way and other agencies. There is also a link for contributions via the website.
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Katrina disrupted the lives and jobs of at least 25,000 unionists. It caused record damage in the three states and left almost all of New Orleans under up to 20 feet of water after levees burst following a storm surge. The entire 485,000-person city, plus its suburbs, was evacuated. Millions were without power, water or shelter.
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Survivors told union colleagues in Shreveport, in northwest Louisiana, that New Orleans and nearby damaged areas would be uninhabitable for at least six weeks. Other estimates say New Orleans would be uninhabitable for months.
"There are whole cities that are completely gone" elsewhere in the three states, added Joanne Powers of USW/PACE.
Three union shipyards -- Avondale outside of New Orleans, and those in Gulfport and Pascagoula, Miss. -- were under water as a result of the hurricane and its accompanying 25-foot storm surge.
The United Steel Workers reported unionized oil rigs in Gulf of Mexico, where its members, all ex-PACE members, worked, were shut down due to lack of power. Some floating rigs broke loose from their moorings and had to be retrieved before they crashed into other oil facilities and caused further damage, news reports said.
The one exception, according to Glenn Devenney, editor of the Labor Leader in Shreveport, was the Citgo refinery in Lake Charles, La. Refugees told him it planned to increase production to make up for closures elsewhere.
Oil shortages, he said, were typified by an 18-plus line of cars at a gas station in Lafayette, La., and a run on generators. After the power went out, one Texarkana supplier?s stock of oil-powered generators dwindled in a day from 75 to two.
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Parkins said the federation's disaster relief effort "would work closely with United Way about how to help." Unions will also ask their locals for lists of workers harmed by the hurricane "so that we can help them 1-on-1 in casework" in getting aid from the federation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other sources, she said.
"We'll offer to be a go-between. If the locals have their own disaster relief system and standards, we'll work with them. Otherwise, we can establish criteria and a system to help people to the extent that dollars come in" for relief, Parkins said.
Meanwhile, the Teamsters Central States, Southeast and Southwest Health and Welfare Fund voted to give health insurance payment-free for a month, for an estimated 10,000 affected and now-jobless Teamsters and their families in the three states. It also dumped restrictions on members' use of out-of-network providers and relaxed drug coverage rules.
Metal Trades Department President Ron Ault, who coordinated the Justice at Avondale campaign at the shipyard outside New Orleans from 1999-2001, felt heartsick at the inability to contact dozens of workers he became friends with during that drive.
"I stood on the Lake Pontchartrain seawall many nights fishing for redfish and speckled trout to avoid another boring and lonely night in a hotel room," he recalled. "I became fast friends with dozens of families in the New Orleans suburban areas of Kenner, Norco, Harrahan, Westwego, Raceland and Delacroie, just to name a few.
"My heart aches as my friends in Sligo, Mandeville, Waves, Pass Christian, Ocean Springs, Gautier, Gulfport, Moss Point, Pascagoula, Mobile, Spanish Fort and Dauphin Island have been in harm's way for days and I have no way to personally contact them. It is a helpless feeling," he added.
Besides the 1-on-1 aid, Union Privilege established special services for hurricane victims. They include the new Union Plus Credit Card Disaster Relief Fund. Eligible union cardholders -- those who have had the card for a year or more and can document Katrina's impact on them or their jobs -- may seek a grant of $500-$2,000. The money does not have to be repaid.
The fund can also consider lower rates, grant fee waivers and give other help. It will also offer credit counseling. The relief fund's toll-free number for applications is 1-877‑761‑5028. Disaster victims in the Union Plus loan, auto insurance and mortgage programs may be eligible for payment extensions, too.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
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Responding to the widespread, record devastation from Hurricane Katrina in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, the AFL-CIO established a relief center in a Communications Workers hall in Jackson, Miss., and planned other efforts as well.
Details about how to help are at www.aflcio.org/hurricane, said Judy Parkins, a field mobilization worker who is coordinating the federation?s effort with the United Way and other agencies. There is also a link for contributions via the website.
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Katrina disrupted the lives and jobs of at least 25,000 unionists. It caused record damage in the three states and left almost all of New Orleans under up to 20 feet of water after levees burst following a storm surge. The entire 485,000-person city, plus its suburbs, was evacuated. Millions were without power, water or shelter.
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Survivors told union colleagues in Shreveport, in northwest Louisiana, that New Orleans and nearby damaged areas would be uninhabitable for at least six weeks. Other estimates say New Orleans would be uninhabitable for months.
“There are whole cities that are completely gone” elsewhere in the three states, added Joanne Powers of USW/PACE.
Three union shipyards — Avondale outside of New Orleans, and those in Gulfport and Pascagoula, Miss. — were under water as a result of the hurricane and its accompanying 25-foot storm surge.
The United Steel Workers reported unionized oil rigs in Gulf of Mexico, where its members, all ex-PACE members, worked, were shut down due to lack of power. Some floating rigs broke loose from their moorings and had to be retrieved before they crashed into other oil facilities and caused further damage, news reports said.
The one exception, according to Glenn Devenney, editor of the Labor Leader in Shreveport, was the Citgo refinery in Lake Charles, La. Refugees told him it planned to increase production to make up for closures elsewhere.
Oil shortages, he said, were typified by an 18-plus line of cars at a gas station in Lafayette, La., and a run on generators. After the power went out, one Texarkana supplier?s stock of oil-powered generators dwindled in a day from 75 to two.
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Parkins said the federation’s disaster relief effort “would work closely with United Way about how to help.” Unions will also ask their locals for lists of workers harmed by the hurricane “so that we can help them 1-on-1 in casework” in getting aid from the federation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other sources, she said.
“We’ll offer to be a go-between. If the locals have their own disaster relief system and standards, we’ll work with them. Otherwise, we can establish criteria and a system to help people to the extent that dollars come in” for relief, Parkins said.
Meanwhile, the Teamsters Central States, Southeast and Southwest Health and Welfare Fund voted to give health insurance payment-free for a month, for an estimated 10,000 affected and now-jobless Teamsters and their families in the three states. It also dumped restrictions on members’ use of out-of-network providers and relaxed drug coverage rules.
Metal Trades Department President Ron Ault, who coordinated the Justice at Avondale campaign at the shipyard outside New Orleans from 1999-2001, felt heartsick at the inability to contact dozens of workers he became friends with during that drive.
“I stood on the Lake Pontchartrain seawall many nights fishing for redfish and speckled trout to avoid another boring and lonely night in a hotel room,” he recalled. “I became fast friends with dozens of families in the New Orleans suburban areas of Kenner, Norco, Harrahan, Westwego, Raceland and Delacroie, just to name a few.
“My heart aches as my friends in Sligo, Mandeville, Waves, Pass Christian, Ocean Springs, Gautier, Gulfport, Moss Point, Pascagoula, Mobile, Spanish Fort and Dauphin Island have been in harm’s way for days and I have no way to personally contact them. It is a helpless feeling,” he added.
Besides the 1-on-1 aid, Union Privilege established special services for hurricane victims. They include the new Union Plus Credit Card Disaster Relief Fund. Eligible union cardholders — those who have had the card for a year or more and can document Katrina’s impact on them or their jobs — may seek a grant of $500-$2,000. The money does not have to be repaid.
The fund can also consider lower rates, grant fee waivers and give other help. It will also offer credit counseling. The relief fund’s toll-free number for applications is 1-877‑761‑5028. Disaster victims in the Union Plus loan, auto insurance and mortgage programs may be eligible for payment extensions, too.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.