CWA 1180 - News

Responding to Katrina
October 2005

While Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans and Mississippi, trapping people in their attics, on their roofs, or in the crowded and filthy Convention Center, George W. Bush continued his Texas vacation. Only on Day 4 did he finally fly over in Air Force One. Bush’s mother, the former First Lady, made matters worse. When she paid a visit to the Houston Astrodome, she smilingly remarked that the evacuees, most of whom had lost their homes, “were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.”

HOW TO HELP

Hurricane victims in Louisiana and Mississippi need our help. Donate money for hurricane relief through the union, where donations will go to our sisters and brothers in the CWA family who have lost their housing and livelihoods. Mail checks made out to CWA Local 1180 to: CWA Local 1180, 6 Harrison St., New York, NY 10013, attention: Hurricane Relief.

The response from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was just as oblivious. In a typical episode, one sheriff, whose New Orleans office was flooded and without power, called up FEMA for help and was told to email in his request. Soon the unqualified political crony Bush had put in charge of FEMA was forced to resign in disgrace. As federal aid finally began to flow into hurricane-devastated areas, Republican leaders channeled most of it to well-connected companies like Halliburton, where vice-president Dick Cheney was once CEO, and to Republican-friendly churches. When the residents of the flood region needed compassion and aid, the Bush administration offered only callousness and cronyism.

But ordinary working people reacted very differently, donating millions of dollars in small and large checks, and pouring into the region to offer their skills and assistance. So did members of Communications Workers of America. Members in Texas opened up their homes to evacuees, while locals from California to Wisconsin sent clothing and money.

At Local 1180, members passed the hat to contribute $500 to their struggling union brothers and sisters in Louisiana and Mississippi. Benefits Fund staffer Antoinette Burke announced that her daughter had opened up her Alabama summer camp to house and feed evacuees, and Local 1180 members quickly donated 18 boxes of clothing and toiletries. When a CWA local representing Mississippi public workers asked Local 1180 to “adopt” a union family who lost everything in the hurricane, the union said yes without hesitation. So far, Local 1180 has sent CWA member Debra Swainer of Gulfport, Mississippi, $1,000 to help her family get back on their feet.

And Local 1180 staff and members took initiative on their own. Staff rep Bernadette Sullivan, who is part of a volunteer Emergency Medical Services unit based in Brooklyn, headed down with other volunteer EMT’s to assist ailing hurricane evacuees. What she faced when she arrived at a triage center in Arkansas was harrowing. She recalls attending to Louisiana evacuees with heart disease, diabetes, or seizure disorders who hadn’t received life-sustaining medication in weeks. While she was there, more evacuees arrived from Texas, displaced by Hurricane Rita.

Health and Hospitals shop steward Arye Sivion also went down to help. He organized a stoop sale in his neighborhood that brought in $1,340, half of which he donated to the Red Cross and half to Habitat for Humanity. He then volunteered to join Habitat in its efforts to get people into housing. They assigned him to Fort Lauderdale, where he spent two weeks in September repairing storm-damaged homes.

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