International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

IBEW Hurricane Katrina
Relief Fund

AFL-CIO Hurricane Relief

Toll-Free Phone Number:
1-877-AFL-CIO9 (1-877-235-2469)

All across the labor movement, unions and union members are rushing to get urgently needed assistance to the victims of Hurricane Katrina--providing front-line rescue efforts, meeting emergency construction needs, stepping in to teach children and giving funds and items. We are the first to pitch in and put our union values to work, and we are the ones who will keep doing it long after the TV cameras are gone. While it is impossible to chronicle the thousands of acts of kindness and courage, here is an update about what the AFL-CIO is doing. For more information, check out the AFL-CIO website at http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/a11w1qS1mPtA/. And please send frequent updates on your activities to webatwork@aflcio.org.

UNION RELIEF FUND GROWS--Union members and other working family activists have contributed more than $223,000 to the Hurricane Relief Fund of the AFL-CIO's Union Community Fund. The Union Community Fund is working with state federations and relief organizations to target funds where needs are greatest. The federation is working aggressively to increase the fund total to $500,000. Contributions are solicited primarily through the AFL-CIO's online Working Families Network and the AFL-CIO Web site (http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/a71w1qS1mPtN/).

WORKER CENTERS IN THE WORKS--The AFL-CIO, state federations and central labor councils are setting up Worker Centers in Houston; Pearl, Miss.; Mobile, Ala.; Atlanta; and Baton Rouge, La. At the centers, displaced workers can learn about jobs, get instant access to computers, benefit from their unions' health and welfare services and find basic relief. The AFL-CIO has shipped computers to the sites to enable evacuees and others to get up-to-date information and let loved ones know they are safe.

The Worker Centers will identify priority needs of evacuees in their areas and will collect and distribute donated supplies. AFL-CIO Community Services liaisons, AFL-CIO staff and AFT volunteers are on their way to help the state federations run the centers. Please let your members know they can volunteer by calling the centers in: Houston: 713-923-9473; Pearl:601-664-3897; and Mobile: 251-478-0162. (Phone numbers for the Atlanta and Baton Rouge centers will be available soon.)

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED--The AFL-CIO is seeking 1,000 hardy volunteers to travel to Red Cross relief sites and provide direct assistance on the ground. Volunteers must be healthy and able to work in very difficult circumstances. Those interested in volunteering should send an e-mail to hurricanevolunteers@aflcio.org. The federation also is looking for Washington, D.C.-area volunteers to staff a hurricane relief phone center at the AFL-CIO national office Sept. 9-30. Phone center volunteers will work four-hour shifts between 8 a.m. and
8 p.m. weekdays, handling calls from people contributing to the Hurricane Relief Fund and from those volunteering to travel to the region to provide direct aid. To sign up, send an e-mail to localvolunteers@aflcio.org.

RECONNECTING BY PHONE--The AFL-CIO has sent satellite-type phones to Baton Rouge and areas of Mississippi that were cut off from communication by the hurricane.

TASK FORCE EYES GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS--The AFL-CIO convened a task force of affiliate union staff Sept. 7 to determine federal legislative and regulatory changes needed to improve the federal disaster unemployment relief program, meet critical health care, housing and education needs and ensure the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is available for Katrina's victims. The task force is preparing a letter to Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and ranking Democrat Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) recommending legislative and regulatory priorities.

BUILDING TRADES ON THE JOB--In Baton Rouge, five building trades locals are using their halls as "processing centers" to connect displaced workers in shelters with new jobs. The Sheet Metal Workers, Boilermakers, Carpenters, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters and Iron Workers have contributed $100,000 to provide funds, transportation and moving assistance for workers and their families who relocate for work.

GUIDELINES FOR RESPONDERS--The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/z11w1qS1mPtw/) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/zd1w1qS1mPts/) have posted important information to keep emergency responders and health workers safe as they provide aid to Katrina's victims, including details about required immunizations (http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/ap1w1qS1mPt2/).

UNION RELIEF FUNDS--Many affiliate unions have created relief funds to assist members. A great example is the Painters and Allied Trades' Finishing Industries Disaster Relief Fund to assist more than 1,400 members displaced by the storm. IUPAT leadership authorized a $1 million donation to the fund and called on its 140,000-plus members for donations. District Council 21 in Philadelphia has pledged more than $100,000 to the fund, which now is approaching the $2 million mark. In addition, the Finishing Contractors Association (FCA), which represents many IUPAT employers, has pledged to raise $2 million to assist IUPAT members and contractors affected by the disaster. IUPAT and the FCA now are working together to create a national job bank for members and to provide shelter for members who travel to work in their new jobs. Union relief funds are listed on the AFL-CIO's hurricane relief Web page. To have your fund added to the list or have hurricane relief activities covered in our news briefs, please send an e-mail with information to webatwork@aflcio.org.

UNION PRIVILEGE GRANTS--The Union Plus Credit Card Disaster Relief Fund offers cardholders facing financial hardship as a result of the hurricane an opportunity to apply for grants of $500 to $2,000. The money does not have to be repaid. Other special assistance for cardholders includes lower rates, fee waivers and other help. Find out more at http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/z71w1qS1mPtx/.

FEDERAL RESPONSE 'SHAMEFUL'--The federal government's failure to mobilize and deliver rapid help to Hurricane Katrina's victims was "a shameful display of corrupted values," according to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. "We've got to ask the cutting questions," Sweeney says in a column on the AFL-CIO's website (http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/ad1w1qS1mPtM/). "Why did the Bush administration refuse to fund repairs for those levees? Why did it take five days to deliver some hope to New Orleans? Why was a president who says America can afford to give the rich permanent tax cuts unable to give the poor of New Orleans a way out before the corpses began piling up?" Hearings by the U.S. House of Representatives on the federal government's failure to respond were scheduled to begin Sept. 7 but have been canceled by Republican lawmakers.

CONTACT US--Keep this list handy and share it with your members and allies who need to contact the AFL-CIO to get or provide information:

Toll-free phone number: 1-877-AFLCIO9. (1-877-235-2469)

AFL-CIO hurricane relief website:
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/a71w1qS1mPtN/.

Donate to the Union Community Fund's Hurricane Relief Fund:
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/a71w1qS1mPtN/ or send checks to Union Community Fund Hurricane Relief Fund, P.O. Box 27306, Washington, D.C. 20038-7306.

Volunteer in the Gulf Coast region: e-mail hurricanevolunteers@aflcio.org.

Have your relief fund or hurricane relief activities listed on the AFL-CIO website: e-mail webatwork@aflcio.org.
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Tell your friends and co-workers about the special Hurricane Relief Fund of the Union Community Fund. Please urge them to contribute today.

http://www.unionvoice.org/join-forward.html?domain=wfean&r=l11w1qS1UqbQ