Hurricane Katrina showed us the high cost of giving tax breaks to the wealthy rather than investing in America’s infrastructure. It showed us the high cost of putting politics ahead of experience in appointing federal officials. It showed us just who is treated as expendable in our society—the sick and the old. It showed us the devastation of urban poverty and its disproportionate impact on people of color.
Katrina was a mirror reflecting the ugly face of misguided, unjust federal priorities—priorities we must change.
The crises facing working families in the Gulf Coast are acute versions of the crises facing all working families every day in every part of this country. The unjust priorities that destroyed lives in that region are eating away at everyone but the wealthy and well-connected.
The AFL-CIO and our affiliate unions have embarked on a campaign to give America a new direction—to put the interests of working families and the poor, half of whom work full-time, before the special interests of politically connected businesses and wealthy individuals.
In town hall meetings across the country this fall and winter, we’re going to debate this new direction for a strong and secure America. And we’ll go door to door in a Community Walk for Change to take the message to a million homes.
We need no debate, though, to start on an immediate list of priority actions for rebuilding the Gulf Coast and the country. Our first steps have been rushing aid and assistance to the region, opening Worker Centers, distributing clothing and food and funds and, as a movement, committing more than $10 million for hurricane survivor relief. At the same time, we are urging Congress to press President Bush to reverse his callous suspension of Davis-Bacon wage protection for the working men and women who will rebuild the Gulf Coast. We demand that Congress reject attempts to finance Gulf Coast rebuilding by cutting programs for working families and the poor. We insist on accountability for all government contracts to repair Katrina’s damage; not one cent should be wasted on corruption or windfall profits or used to finance attacks on workers’ rights.
We’re also leading the fight for a federal and state agenda to raise the minimum wage that should have been increased years ago, to make affordable health care available to all, to protect pensions, to create and keep good jobs here in America and to invest in infrastructure improvement, education, homeland security and other vital public services. Finally, we are going to turn up the heat to convince Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act so every worker has the freedom to choose for himself or herself whether to join a union, without employer intimidation or harassment.
It’s impossible to look into the mirror of Hurricane Katrina and not dislike what we see. But this disastrous hurricane has been a call to action—a call America’s union movement is answering.
