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Labor Day 2005: A time for solidarity,
a time for action
This Labor Day the thoughts and prayers
of the UAW family go out to families who have lost so much, and who today,
five long days after Hurricane Katrina struck, are enduring extraordinary
emotional and physical hardships.
The news reports and images from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast communities
of Mississippi and Alabama are simply stunning: Families on rooftops desperately
signaling for help. Entire communities leveled. The anguished faces of
so many hard-working people who no longer have a place to call home. Reports
of families who died in the storm because they didn’t have the money
for a tank of gas to get out of harm’s way. Heartbreaking images
of babies dying in their mothers’ arms from dehydration.
But we have also seen, once again, countless acts of courage, compassion
and solidarity: Rescue and relief workers, many of them volunteers, working
tirelessly under horrific conditions. Hurricane victims comforting each
other as they wait at the New Orleans Convention Center and the Superdome
for buses to take them to safety. The city of Houston opening its arms
and the Astrodome to refugees. Individuals and businesses large and small
sending donations to the United Way, American Red Cross, Salvation Army
and many other wonderful nonprofit organizations involved in the relief
effort.
No doubt, all of us have questioned the federal government’s lack
of preparedness and slow response. There will be time enough to ask tough
questions and demand honest answers in the weeks and months ahead. Right
now the most pressing need is to help our fellow Americans survive the
immediate crisis and then begin putting their lives back together.
The UAW is working with the United Way, American Red Cross, other relief
agencies and UAW employers to do our part to help.
The UAW has made an initial contribution of $100,000 to the United Way
Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, and fund-raising efforts at the local union
level are under way in each of the UAW’s 11 regions.
This is a start. In the days ahead we will be working with relief agencies,
local governments, other unions, employers and community groups to help
in the long-term recovery effort.
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