Disaster Manual Helps Union Movement Prepare for the Worst

by Mike Hall, Sep 18, 2006

No one likes to think about the worst that could happen to loved ones, homes and communities. But as last year’s devastating hurricane season, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and natural and industrial disasters show, the worst sometimes does happen.

But if families, communities and their unions are prepared to respond, lives can be saved and neighborhoods rebuilt.

Building on more than half a century of helping working families recover and rebuild after natural and man-made disasters, the AFL-CIO has developed Action in the Aftermath: An AFL-CIO Disaster Preparedness and Response Manual. (You can download the entire manual at the AFL-CIO’s Cool Tools website.)

The AFL-CIO and its unions have long tapped their resources and used skilled volunteers to help working families cope and rebuild after disasters. Last summer’s deadly Gulf Coast hurricanes presented the unprecedented challenge of helping millions of people and rebuilding an entire region. As the manual’s introduction says:

America’s unions responded generously and effectively to their members affected by the storms of 2005, to the communities that were destroyed and to the communities that took in thousands of people evacuated from coastal areas. In doing so, we learned some good lessons about what works and where we need to prepare more effective responses.

As the manual notes, the federal government has the primary responsibility to prepare and plan for disasters, but as the 2005 hurricanes revealed, there are significant and serious flaws in national response planning.

The manual outlines how national unions, state federations, central labor councils and local unions can develop and implement effective disaster response plans. It also contains tips for working families on how to set up their own home preparedness plans and how to contact the AFL-CIO Community Services Network, made up of central labor council and state federation staff who work with local United Way and Red Cross chapters. The manual also announces a new toll-free AFL-CIO Disaster Support Hot Line—877-235-2469.

For additional preparedness, the AFL-CIO’s Safety and Health at Work website provides valuable information and resources for workers and their unions in case of a potentially deadly pandemic flu outbreak.

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