The devastation brought on by Hurricane Katrina is fraught with destruction and despair.  As union members, educators, and family members we all have an obligation to step in and help. 

The Rutgers Council of AAUP-AFT Chapters would first like to commend the University for its response to Hurricane Katrina.

• For students that have been displaced they have offered “Visiting Student” status. 
• Rutgers University employees who are Red Cross Certified Disaster Service Volunteers are eligible for one ten (10) day paid leave of absence and one ten (10) day unpaid leave of absence in each calendar year upon the request of the American Red Cross and the approval of their employing department to respond to catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina. For more information, please visit http://uhr.rutgers.edu/red-cross-leave.html.

As the Rutgers Council of AAUP-AFT Chapters we have also responded to the disaster.  Both the Part Time and the Full Time chapters have donated $1,000 each to the AFT Katrina – Union Community Fund.

The Union Community Fund was set up by the AFL-CIO for situations just like Katrina. 

Imagine if your home, your school, your job and your dreams, were all washed away in one afternoon. Where would you turn?  The Labor movement was ready and has already done a great deal to support our union brothers and sisters in New Orleans and the surrounding areas.  Money donated to the fund will go directly to educators, union employees and other working families in their recovery from the disaster.  The schools, colleges, and universities may be gone, but the Union is still here.  This fund is available to any union member when disaster hits.  By donating today you can insure the stability of our entire union.

This response is one quite different than that of George W. Bush. In the aftermath he announced: "We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action." Yet in his first decisvie act after the strom, Bush issued an executive order taking wage protections away from construction workers who will rebuild the Gulf Coast. Katrina exposed gaping economic inequiality--people who couldn't afford to evacuate New Orleans suffered horribly and, in too many cases, died. Robbing workers in the area of decent wage standards will make it that much harder for them to recover.

More from the AFL-CIO Bush Uses Disaster to Ram Through Low-Wage Work

Sign the Petition for Decent Pay in the Gulf Coast

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