Labor & Employment Law

Union Support Pouring in for Haiti

By James Parks

The support by union members continues to pour in to help the survivors of last week’s massive earthquake in Haiti. You can take action now to help the Haitian survivors by clicking on the AFL-CIO Haitian Disaster Relief site here.

As of yesterday, nearly $13,000 had been donated to the Solidarity Center’s Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers’ Campaign. Several unions have pledged thousands more to the fund.

And in cities across the country, liaisons of the AFL-CIO Community Services Network are working tirelessly to organize volunteer efforts and donations to help Haitian workers in need.  

The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) and members of AFSCME District Council 40 in Madison, Wis., each raised $25,000 to support Haitian relief.

Meanwhile, the global online labor news service, LabourStart, describes the various international unions that are sending aid, volunteers and support to Haiti. To read about those efforts on LabourStart, click here.

In other recent actions:

• The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor has donated $10,000 to help pay transportation costs for the more than 7,000 registered nurses who responded to the call by National Nurses United (NNU) to provide assistance in Haiti. The RNs are issuing an urgent appeal for the public to support these efforts with donations of funds to support travel costs and medical supplies on their upcoming emergency nursing mission. Click here to sign up to volunteer or donate or call 1-800-578-8225.
• Participants in the annual AFL-CIO King Day Celebration raised and donated more than $2,400 by passing the hat at one of its events.
• In Cincinnati, members of the Ironworkers, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters and SEIU are staffing a local telethon for the Red Cross.
• The New York City Central Labor Council has set up a fund to directly benefit the workers, victims and families of the Haitian community. To contribute, send checks to the NYC Central Labor Council Haitian Disaster Relief Fund, 275 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10007.

To learn about what some other unions are doing to provide aid to Haiti, click here, here and here.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on January 19, 2010 (boomark / email).