Katrina One Year Later: ‘I Knew Our Unions Would Come Through’

by   |  August 28, 2006

Today, the AFL-CIO's blog discusses unions and the response to Katrina -- one year later. Here's an excerpt that reveals how AFSCME was there for our Gulf Coast members:

Michele Baker, a custodian supervisor for the New Orleans schools and president of AFSCME Local 872, called her union representative once she got to Baton Rouge. Within hours, a group of AFSCME members showed up at the church to bring money and other aid to the Bakers. AFSCME asked her to join a press conference to talk about her experiences and to travel around the country, telling people what happened. As a result, Michele was offered a job as an AFSCME organizer and now works in Milwaukee. Her husband, Alex remains in Baton Rouge with the transit authority, but he will return to work in New Orleans Sept. 1. He says the two are committed to making a long-distance marriage work.

Follow the links below for AFSCME's archived coverage of the aftermath of Katrina: "Victimized by Wind, Water and Politicians" "Misplaced Priorities -- Gerald W. McEntee" "Attacking the Culture of Poverty -- William Lucy"