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Union Responds to Havoc in Los Alamos
CWA Local 7037 Steward Berlinda Garcia knew something was very wrong as she returned from a meeting 20 miles outside Los Alamos, N.M.
“As we drove back in, we saw a huge cloud of red over the whole town. As soon as we got to the office, we got word that everybody was being released.”
Threatened by a devastating forest fire, about 60 US West employees and their families evacuated the town around 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10, along with 25,000 others who live and work in the Los Alamos area. Also caught up in the exodus were University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE/CWA Local 9119) members who work at Los Alamos National Laboratories and CWA Local 7055 members employed by the University of New Mexico, Los Alamos Campus. Many fled to friends’ or relatives’ homes in the nearby community of White Rock, only to be evacuated a second time 12 hours later.
By early reports, 10 US West employees lost their homes. Confirmed as total losses are the homes of two Local 7037 members, two Local 9119 members, and one University of New Mexico employee, not yet a member of Local 7055. Local President Don Armstrong said the union will be assisting UNM employees. Countless other members’ homes were heavily damaged by smoke.
Rescue Effort
Four CWA locals — 7011 and 7055, Albuquerque; 7037, Santa Fe; and 9119, University of California — quickly swung into action to assist those with losses, aided by CWA’s District 7 and District 9 offices.
US West established a New Mexico Recovery Assistance Fund, announcing it will match, dollar for dollar, funds collected by employees throughout its 14-state region, to assist US West workers.
CWA Locals 7011 and 7037 with help from US West, set up a relief center in Albuquerque to assist US West employees. Located in Local 7011’s union hall, the center is staffed 24 hours a day by union and management volunteers.
Locals 7055 and 9119 are working with various community organizations to raise money, food and supplies for their members, who are ineligible to participate in the US West relief fund.
District 7 Vice President John Thompson and District 9 Vice President Tony Bixler have assigned staff to help coordinate relief efforts and have called upon locals in their districts to contribute to special relief funds.
CWA President Morton Bahr said that CWA’s Disaster Relief Fund will provide help for members who suffered severe losses.
“I am very proud of the quick volunteer efforts by our New Mexico locals and of our union’s response at every level to help our members in Los Alamos. Our hearts go out to those brothers and sisters who lost everything they owned in this terrible disaster,” Bahr said.
Conflagration
The blaze started May 4, when the National Park Service set a “controlled” fire in Bandelier National Monument Park to clear away dry brush and reduce the risk of wildfires. It quickly got out of control and destroyed more than 200 buildings before being tamed by 1,400 firefighters from around the nation.
As the flames came within a half-mile of US West’s network nerve center, employees worked around the clock to protect the facility and preserve telephone service for customers. US West employees stayed behind in Los Alamos after the National Guard evacuated the community and sprayed three inches of water on the facility to protect its roof and computers.
“Our crews have done a heroic job of keeping telecommunications service up and running for our customers during this difficult and frightening time,” said Ed Lopez, US West vice president – New Mexico.
The CWA/US West Disaster Relief Center, coordinated by Local 7011 Vice President Judy Van Sanford, geared up quickly after the evacuation, and will remain open as long as necessary. The center helped US West employees obtain lodging and continues to act as a clearinghouse for donations, the distribution of food, water and clothing, child care, pet care and other services, while also working to find scattered employees.
Five Local 7037 members work at the US West central office in Los Alamos, said local President Robin Gould. The rest work in a customer care center down the road. Most evacuees returned home the week of May 22, Gould said, and both offices reopened.
Volunteers from Local 7011 have delivered more than 75 boxes of donated supplies to Local 7037’s union hall in Santa Fe, Gould said, praising the work of Local 7011 President Judith McMullan and members.
“Without Jude offering her union hall we would never have been able to provide the assistance we have to the members,” Gould said. “It’s amazing to me. None of their members were affected, yet they were there for us, seven days a week.”
Covering Losses
Local 7037 Stewards Garcia, Lisa Hill and Margie Creel made scores of phone calls, locating all of the employees of the customer care center. Two, they found, are now homeless.
Amy Danforth, 29, an information specialist, and her husband, John, left their home in Los Alamos to stay with her parents in White Rock. After the second evacuation, all four ended up in the Camel Rock Suites, a hotel in Santa Fe.
They managed to take with them only a few photographs, personal valuables and clothing. When they returned to Los Alamos they found that’s all they still own.
“It’s devastating, unbelievable,” Danforth said, still sifting through the rubble of what had been a four-unit dwelling. “We found a few pieces of my grandmother’s pottery, that’s all.”
Jeff Hodas, 34, fared no better. He and wife Agnes were staying at the Hilltop Hotel in Los Alamos and planned to soon rent a place in Pojoaque, 20 miles away.
There’s nothing left of his old house. Said Hodas, “It’s just a big ashtray. It’s burnt right to the ground.”
Garcia will help both families apply to the CWA Disaster Relief Fund.
On Friday, May 19, Local 9119 Los Alamos President Betty Gunther had just returned to her Los Alamos home. The fire, after destroying 47,000 acres, was 60-percent contained, having blown back up into the Jemez Mountains. Investigators were still checking the 43-square-mile Los Alamos Labs complex for danger from nuclear materials exposed to heat or flames.
The Labs’ 8,000 employees, including 30 UPTE/CWA members, started returning to work Monday, May 22. Two of them will have to find new places to live. Larry Gibbons, a technician, and Judith Binstock, a physicist, both lost their homes, Gunther said.
Where to Send Help
District 7 Vice President Thompson has written to all CWA locals in the district, asking them to send contributions to CWA Local 7037 Los Alamos Disaster Relief Fund, P.O. Box 2164, Santa Fe, NM 87504-2064.
“As we drove back in, we saw a huge cloud of red over the whole town. As soon as we got to the office, we got word that everybody was being released.”
Threatened by a devastating forest fire, about 60 US West employees and their families evacuated the town around 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10, along with 25,000 others who live and work in the Los Alamos area. Also caught up in the exodus were University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE/CWA Local 9119) members who work at Los Alamos National Laboratories and CWA Local 7055 members employed by the University of New Mexico, Los Alamos Campus. Many fled to friends’ or relatives’ homes in the nearby community of White Rock, only to be evacuated a second time 12 hours later.
By early reports, 10 US West employees lost their homes. Confirmed as total losses are the homes of two Local 7037 members, two Local 9119 members, and one University of New Mexico employee, not yet a member of Local 7055. Local President Don Armstrong said the union will be assisting UNM employees. Countless other members’ homes were heavily damaged by smoke.
Rescue Effort
Four CWA locals — 7011 and 7055, Albuquerque; 7037, Santa Fe; and 9119, University of California — quickly swung into action to assist those with losses, aided by CWA’s District 7 and District 9 offices.
US West established a New Mexico Recovery Assistance Fund, announcing it will match, dollar for dollar, funds collected by employees throughout its 14-state region, to assist US West workers.
CWA Locals 7011 and 7037 with help from US West, set up a relief center in Albuquerque to assist US West employees. Located in Local 7011’s union hall, the center is staffed 24 hours a day by union and management volunteers.
Locals 7055 and 9119 are working with various community organizations to raise money, food and supplies for their members, who are ineligible to participate in the US West relief fund.
District 7 Vice President John Thompson and District 9 Vice President Tony Bixler have assigned staff to help coordinate relief efforts and have called upon locals in their districts to contribute to special relief funds.
CWA President Morton Bahr said that CWA’s Disaster Relief Fund will provide help for members who suffered severe losses.
“I am very proud of the quick volunteer efforts by our New Mexico locals and of our union’s response at every level to help our members in Los Alamos. Our hearts go out to those brothers and sisters who lost everything they owned in this terrible disaster,” Bahr said.
Conflagration
The blaze started May 4, when the National Park Service set a “controlled” fire in Bandelier National Monument Park to clear away dry brush and reduce the risk of wildfires. It quickly got out of control and destroyed more than 200 buildings before being tamed by 1,400 firefighters from around the nation.
As the flames came within a half-mile of US West’s network nerve center, employees worked around the clock to protect the facility and preserve telephone service for customers. US West employees stayed behind in Los Alamos after the National Guard evacuated the community and sprayed three inches of water on the facility to protect its roof and computers.
“Our crews have done a heroic job of keeping telecommunications service up and running for our customers during this difficult and frightening time,” said Ed Lopez, US West vice president – New Mexico.
The CWA/US West Disaster Relief Center, coordinated by Local 7011 Vice President Judy Van Sanford, geared up quickly after the evacuation, and will remain open as long as necessary. The center helped US West employees obtain lodging and continues to act as a clearinghouse for donations, the distribution of food, water and clothing, child care, pet care and other services, while also working to find scattered employees.
Five Local 7037 members work at the US West central office in Los Alamos, said local President Robin Gould. The rest work in a customer care center down the road. Most evacuees returned home the week of May 22, Gould said, and both offices reopened.
Volunteers from Local 7011 have delivered more than 75 boxes of donated supplies to Local 7037’s union hall in Santa Fe, Gould said, praising the work of Local 7011 President Judith McMullan and members.
“Without Jude offering her union hall we would never have been able to provide the assistance we have to the members,” Gould said. “It’s amazing to me. None of their members were affected, yet they were there for us, seven days a week.”
Covering Losses
Local 7037 Stewards Garcia, Lisa Hill and Margie Creel made scores of phone calls, locating all of the employees of the customer care center. Two, they found, are now homeless.
Amy Danforth, 29, an information specialist, and her husband, John, left their home in Los Alamos to stay with her parents in White Rock. After the second evacuation, all four ended up in the Camel Rock Suites, a hotel in Santa Fe.
They managed to take with them only a few photographs, personal valuables and clothing. When they returned to Los Alamos they found that’s all they still own.
“It’s devastating, unbelievable,” Danforth said, still sifting through the rubble of what had been a four-unit dwelling. “We found a few pieces of my grandmother’s pottery, that’s all.”
Jeff Hodas, 34, fared no better. He and wife Agnes were staying at the Hilltop Hotel in Los Alamos and planned to soon rent a place in Pojoaque, 20 miles away.
There’s nothing left of his old house. Said Hodas, “It’s just a big ashtray. It’s burnt right to the ground.”
Garcia will help both families apply to the CWA Disaster Relief Fund.
On Friday, May 19, Local 9119 Los Alamos President Betty Gunther had just returned to her Los Alamos home. The fire, after destroying 47,000 acres, was 60-percent contained, having blown back up into the Jemez Mountains. Investigators were still checking the 43-square-mile Los Alamos Labs complex for danger from nuclear materials exposed to heat or flames.
The Labs’ 8,000 employees, including 30 UPTE/CWA members, started returning to work Monday, May 22. Two of them will have to find new places to live. Larry Gibbons, a technician, and Judith Binstock, a physicist, both lost their homes, Gunther said.
Where to Send Help
District 7 Vice President Thompson has written to all CWA locals in the district, asking them to send contributions to CWA Local 7037 Los Alamos Disaster Relief Fund, P.O. Box 2164, Santa Fe, NM 87504-2064.