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Tragedy on the Gulf Coast: Union Reaches Out to Members in Need After Hurricanes
The hundreds - and perhaps thousands - of CWA families along the Gulf Coast who suffered the wrath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have lost homes, cars, pets and, in some cases, friends and relatives.
But they have one thing going for them that the storms' other victims don't: A helping hand, including financial aid, from their union brothers and sisters.
"Please know that you are uppermost in our hearts and minds," CWA President Larry Cohen said to affected members and their families. "At the national level, we are distributing millions of dollars of aid from our relief funds. And our locals and individual members are donating money, water, food, clothing and other supplies and are eager to help in every way possible."
Shortly after Katrina struck Aug. 29, CWA staff and officers from headquarters, Districts 3 and 6 and locals throughout the area had a system in place to begin disbursing funds from the union's Disaster Relief Fund, cutting checks of up to $1,500 per member in need.
In a unanimous vote, up to $4 million was allocated for Katrina relief by delegates to CWA's convention, underway in Chicago at the time of the hurricane. In addition, CWA families have donated more than $50,000.
"The devastation is just unbelievable," said District 3 Vice President Noah Savant, who toured the region by air a week after the hurricane. "Television doesn't do it justice."
In addition to "blocks and blocks and blocks of
residential houses and businesses totally underwater," in New Orleans, members in Mississippi had homes damaged, if not entirely destroyed, by Katrina's winds.
CWA Executive Vice President Jeff Rechenbach toured the area around Gulfport, Miss., by car, with three other labor leaders. "I've never seen anything like it in my life," he said. "You go along that Gulf Coast and as far as the eye can see, everything is leveled."
Seeing the disaster up close, he said, "gives you a much deeper sense of just how important our member relief effort is to these families."
Devastating Losses
The number of CWA members and retirees displaced and the extent of their damage and personal loss wasn't known at CWA News press time - except to the degree that union leaders knew the losses were substantial.
By late September, more than 400 members had applied for and received checks from the union to help them get back on their feet. Because members have been displaced throughout the south, designated locals in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas are working with headquarters to distribute funds.
Despite the time and paperwork involved, "not a single local I've asked for help has said 'no,'" said CWA Representative Janine Brown, who coordinates disaster relief. "They've all stepped up to the plate to help members - even when those members don't belong to their local."
Booker Lester, administrative assistant to Savant and District 3's disaster relief coordinator, said members have been surprised - and thankful - to learn that their union offered financial help. "We've got some real grateful members," he said.
Lester said he's been pleased with the early response of District 3's two largest employers, Bell South and Cingular, which each set up tent cities for workers, with meals and showers.
He especially praised Cingular's effort in Ocean Springs, Miss., where about 600 CWA members are employed at a call center. The area was devastated by Katrina. Cingular gave all employees a $500 check to help with immediate needs, and is planning to give up to $2,000 to members who have suffered the most serious losses.
When Rita struck nearly weeks after Katrina, much of New Orleans flooded again, although residents hadn't returned at that point. Several smaller cities in Louisiana and Texas were flooded as well and hundreds of houses were destroyed.
Among the many ways CWA families reached out, the Texas State Employees Union-CWA, Local 6186, set up a "share a space" program online so that members who lived inland could provide shelter for members evacuating from Houston, Galveston and other coastal areas. TSEU and other Texas CWA members already were working tirelessly to help Katrina evacuees who landed in their state.
As the CWA News went to press, district staff were trying to reach local presidents to assess Rita's impact on CWA families. District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn noted that while Houston was largely spared, the city had been evacuated and tens of thousands of people were struggling to get back home along jammed highways. Gas stations were out of fuel, leaving many motorists stranded and unable to get to work.
Milburn said Southwestern Bell had agreed to pay people for Sept. 22-23, when they had to evacuate. He planned to talk to the company about its policies for workers unable to return by Monday, Sept. 26.
Another adopt-a-family program has been launched by MASE/CWA Local 3570 for its members affected by the hurricanes. Local President Brenda Scott has appeared on local TV news out of Jackson, Miss., appealing to affected members affected to contact the local for help. About 20 families had applied by Sept. 26. "We're going to provide what assistance we can to those people and to any others we learn of," Scott said.
Back to Work
After Katrina, Savant said both Bell South and Cingular quickly began putting people back to work, finding jobs in new cities in the South and even across the country for those displaced.
Not everything has run smoothly. While Savant credits Bell South for its "humanitarian efforts" in the aftermath of Katrina, he said, "We're having some contractual disputes about the way the company is handling some of the restoration projects."
Bell South technicians have been working 14 hours a day and more to restore service in Louisiana and Mississippi, said Mike Fahrenholt, president of Local 3410. Usually a full-time president, he has donned a company uniform himself and gone back to repair work while the local's offices in New Orleans remain closed.
Lester said Cingular has been especially good about finding jobs for members. For instance, a Local 3519 officer attending the convention in Chicago realized she'd have no access to her home after the hurricane. Cingular put her to work first in Chicago, then in Jackson, Miss., he said.
As important as regular paychecks are, union leaders and other advocates for workers say they won't make ends meet for displaced families. They are encouraging the government and lenders to take action to ease the workers' burdens. "Are they still going to have to pay a mortgage for a house they can't live in, and in the meantime have to pay rent somewhere else?" Savant asked.
Eager to Help
The many ways CWA members, retirees and families have and are continuing to help storm victims could fill an entire newspaper. Some of the many good deeds and the people and locals helping are listed online, via a link on CWA's homepage.
Among the generosity, locals around the country have made donations to the Disaster Relief Fund, or directly to members and their families in need. Wisconsin locals and SBC sent both technicians to the region and 30 truckloads of clothes and other supplies for victims. Help is even coming from abroad: The Mexican telecom union STRM sent a check for $5,000 to CWA's relief fund.
Hundreds of members at Verizon volunteered to work the phones for three hours the night of a multi-network telethon to raise funds. And technicians from various CWA employers helped set up phone and computer banks at shelters in Texas, California, Washington, D.C., and other areas where victims were evacuated.
Some CWA members have even opened their homes to displaced families, including a member of Local 9509 in San Diego who has taken in an extended family of 17.
A number of CWA members, including an AFA member sent to Baton Rouge, an IUE member sent to Biloxi and a NABET member sent to New Orleans, have taken vacation time or other leave from their jobs to serve the Red Cross.
Some of the Red Cross volunteers are first-timers being put to work at shelters or on food delivery vans. Others have years of experience, such as Kelly Reffett, a Red Cross labor liason and member of CWA Local 4202. Doing relief work in Baton Rouge, she says, "I worked 9/11 for two and a half months and that was a cakewalk compared to this."
Reporters Speak Out
Journalists represented by CWA's Newspaper Guild and National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, have done some of the top reporting and photography in the wake of the storm, working in conditions they liken to wars and last December's killer tsunami.
"When you go down there, you're in a war zone of sorts - kind of a mix of the L.A. riots and the tsunami except if anything happens to you, you're completely on your own," New York Times photographer Vincent Laforet, a member of TNG-CWA Local 31003, said in an online interview with Photo District News shortly after the hurricane.
"It's really hell," he said. "This is by far the most logistically difficult assignment I've ever covered. I'm not sure people outside New Orleans understand just how dire the situation is out here. It's a total disaster zone where people are starving to death, dying of dehydration and getting desperate. And here we are going in there, into this really dangerous situation, trying to do our jobs."
MSNBC cameraman and NABET-CWA Local 52031 member Tony Zumbado was interviewed before federal aid arrived about the appalling conditions he witnessed and filmed inside the New Orleans Convention Center, where he saw people, including babies, dead and dying.
"It's the most horrific thing I've ever seen in one location," Zumbado in an interview with Today show host Katie Couric. "It's the saddest situation I've ever seen ... four days later, nothing has been provided for these people. They're dying."
But they have one thing going for them that the storms' other victims don't: A helping hand, including financial aid, from their union brothers and sisters.
"Please know that you are uppermost in our hearts and minds," CWA President Larry Cohen said to affected members and their families. "At the national level, we are distributing millions of dollars of aid from our relief funds. And our locals and individual members are donating money, water, food, clothing and other supplies and are eager to help in every way possible."
Shortly after Katrina struck Aug. 29, CWA staff and officers from headquarters, Districts 3 and 6 and locals throughout the area had a system in place to begin disbursing funds from the union's Disaster Relief Fund, cutting checks of up to $1,500 per member in need.
In a unanimous vote, up to $4 million was allocated for Katrina relief by delegates to CWA's convention, underway in Chicago at the time of the hurricane. In addition, CWA families have donated more than $50,000.
"The devastation is just unbelievable," said District 3 Vice President Noah Savant, who toured the region by air a week after the hurricane. "Television doesn't do it justice."
In addition to "blocks and blocks and blocks of
residential houses and businesses totally underwater," in New Orleans, members in Mississippi had homes damaged, if not entirely destroyed, by Katrina's winds.
CWA Executive Vice President Jeff Rechenbach toured the area around Gulfport, Miss., by car, with three other labor leaders. "I've never seen anything like it in my life," he said. "You go along that Gulf Coast and as far as the eye can see, everything is leveled."
Seeing the disaster up close, he said, "gives you a much deeper sense of just how important our member relief effort is to these families."
Devastating Losses
The number of CWA members and retirees displaced and the extent of their damage and personal loss wasn't known at CWA News press time - except to the degree that union leaders knew the losses were substantial.
By late September, more than 400 members had applied for and received checks from the union to help them get back on their feet. Because members have been displaced throughout the south, designated locals in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas are working with headquarters to distribute funds.
Despite the time and paperwork involved, "not a single local I've asked for help has said 'no,'" said CWA Representative Janine Brown, who coordinates disaster relief. "They've all stepped up to the plate to help members - even when those members don't belong to their local."
Booker Lester, administrative assistant to Savant and District 3's disaster relief coordinator, said members have been surprised - and thankful - to learn that their union offered financial help. "We've got some real grateful members," he said.
Lester said he's been pleased with the early response of District 3's two largest employers, Bell South and Cingular, which each set up tent cities for workers, with meals and showers.
He especially praised Cingular's effort in Ocean Springs, Miss., where about 600 CWA members are employed at a call center. The area was devastated by Katrina. Cingular gave all employees a $500 check to help with immediate needs, and is planning to give up to $2,000 to members who have suffered the most serious losses.
When Rita struck nearly weeks after Katrina, much of New Orleans flooded again, although residents hadn't returned at that point. Several smaller cities in Louisiana and Texas were flooded as well and hundreds of houses were destroyed.
Among the many ways CWA families reached out, the Texas State Employees Union-CWA, Local 6186, set up a "share a space" program online so that members who lived inland could provide shelter for members evacuating from Houston, Galveston and other coastal areas. TSEU and other Texas CWA members already were working tirelessly to help Katrina evacuees who landed in their state.
As the CWA News went to press, district staff were trying to reach local presidents to assess Rita's impact on CWA families. District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn noted that while Houston was largely spared, the city had been evacuated and tens of thousands of people were struggling to get back home along jammed highways. Gas stations were out of fuel, leaving many motorists stranded and unable to get to work.
Milburn said Southwestern Bell had agreed to pay people for Sept. 22-23, when they had to evacuate. He planned to talk to the company about its policies for workers unable to return by Monday, Sept. 26.
Another adopt-a-family program has been launched by MASE/CWA Local 3570 for its members affected by the hurricanes. Local President Brenda Scott has appeared on local TV news out of Jackson, Miss., appealing to affected members affected to contact the local for help. About 20 families had applied by Sept. 26. "We're going to provide what assistance we can to those people and to any others we learn of," Scott said.
Back to Work
After Katrina, Savant said both Bell South and Cingular quickly began putting people back to work, finding jobs in new cities in the South and even across the country for those displaced.
Not everything has run smoothly. While Savant credits Bell South for its "humanitarian efforts" in the aftermath of Katrina, he said, "We're having some contractual disputes about the way the company is handling some of the restoration projects."
Bell South technicians have been working 14 hours a day and more to restore service in Louisiana and Mississippi, said Mike Fahrenholt, president of Local 3410. Usually a full-time president, he has donned a company uniform himself and gone back to repair work while the local's offices in New Orleans remain closed.
Lester said Cingular has been especially good about finding jobs for members. For instance, a Local 3519 officer attending the convention in Chicago realized she'd have no access to her home after the hurricane. Cingular put her to work first in Chicago, then in Jackson, Miss., he said.
As important as regular paychecks are, union leaders and other advocates for workers say they won't make ends meet for displaced families. They are encouraging the government and lenders to take action to ease the workers' burdens. "Are they still going to have to pay a mortgage for a house they can't live in, and in the meantime have to pay rent somewhere else?" Savant asked.
Eager to Help
The many ways CWA members, retirees and families have and are continuing to help storm victims could fill an entire newspaper. Some of the many good deeds and the people and locals helping are listed online, via a link on CWA's homepage.
Among the generosity, locals around the country have made donations to the Disaster Relief Fund, or directly to members and their families in need. Wisconsin locals and SBC sent both technicians to the region and 30 truckloads of clothes and other supplies for victims. Help is even coming from abroad: The Mexican telecom union STRM sent a check for $5,000 to CWA's relief fund.
Hundreds of members at Verizon volunteered to work the phones for three hours the night of a multi-network telethon to raise funds. And technicians from various CWA employers helped set up phone and computer banks at shelters in Texas, California, Washington, D.C., and other areas where victims were evacuated.
Some CWA members have even opened their homes to displaced families, including a member of Local 9509 in San Diego who has taken in an extended family of 17.
A number of CWA members, including an AFA member sent to Baton Rouge, an IUE member sent to Biloxi and a NABET member sent to New Orleans, have taken vacation time or other leave from their jobs to serve the Red Cross.
Some of the Red Cross volunteers are first-timers being put to work at shelters or on food delivery vans. Others have years of experience, such as Kelly Reffett, a Red Cross labor liason and member of CWA Local 4202. Doing relief work in Baton Rouge, she says, "I worked 9/11 for two and a half months and that was a cakewalk compared to this."
Reporters Speak Out
Journalists represented by CWA's Newspaper Guild and National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, have done some of the top reporting and photography in the wake of the storm, working in conditions they liken to wars and last December's killer tsunami.
"When you go down there, you're in a war zone of sorts - kind of a mix of the L.A. riots and the tsunami except if anything happens to you, you're completely on your own," New York Times photographer Vincent Laforet, a member of TNG-CWA Local 31003, said in an online interview with Photo District News shortly after the hurricane.
"It's really hell," he said. "This is by far the most logistically difficult assignment I've ever covered. I'm not sure people outside New Orleans understand just how dire the situation is out here. It's a total disaster zone where people are starving to death, dying of dehydration and getting desperate. And here we are going in there, into this really dangerous situation, trying to do our jobs."
MSNBC cameraman and NABET-CWA Local 52031 member Tony Zumbado was interviewed before federal aid arrived about the appalling conditions he witnessed and filmed inside the New Orleans Convention Center, where he saw people, including babies, dead and dying.
"It's the most horrific thing I've ever seen in one location," Zumbado in an interview with Today show host Katie Couric. "It's the saddest situation I've ever seen ... four days later, nothing has been provided for these people. They're dying."