~*PENTANGLE NEWS*~*(The Peoples' Guardian}*~: Public Employees Aiding Residents Throughout Irene

Public Employees Aiding Residents Throughout Irene | AFL-CIO NOW BLOG

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Public Employees Aiding Residents Throughout Irene

by James Parks, Aug 30, 2011

From the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), whose employess are represented byAFGE, to local workers answering emergency calls, government workers have been playing a major role in the cleanup effort of Hurricane Irene. Two of those workers, one in Rutland, Vt., and one in Princeton, N.J., lost their lives while trying to help keep their communiteis safe during the storm.

State and local officials throughout the East Coast are praising public employees as they spearhead the cleanup after the massive storm and return communities to normal as soon as possible.

Early on, state and local workers, many members of AFSCME, oversaw mandatory evacuations along the coast in New Jersey, North Carolina, Maryland and in New York City. Now, city and state crews of non-emergency personnel are cutting up fallen trees and removing debris from roadways and fixing broken stoplights.

AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders says:

In the wake of this devastating storm, it is heartening to know that public service workers—many are AFSCME members—are out there, working tirelessly above and beyond the call of duty. You’re talking about firefighters, police officers, teachers, highway workers and school employees who every single day get up in the morning and they risk their lives and provide an essential public service to the citizens of this country.

When the hurricane hit, ciites and towns depended on Fire Fighters (IAFF), police and other first respondents, many of them members of police unions and AFSCME, to rescue people who were stranded or in danger, to keep order and to ensure the public’s safety.

“That’s your government in action. Making the rescues. Responding in the middle of a historic hurricane,” says IAFF President Harold Schaitberger.

Firefighters and other public employees have been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism from anti-worker politicians, but when those politicians talk about cutting government they’re also talking about cutting our ability to help people during a disaster like the one we just went through. They fail to realize that it’s our ability to respond and our ability to take care of our own that makes this country so great.

Residents with power or battery-operated radios and televisions got vital split-second information about the storm from TV and radio news reporters, many of whom are members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

In the storm’s aftermath, residents are turning to members of the Utility Workers (UWUA), Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Electrical Workers (IBEW) to restore power lines and telephone and cable lines.

UWUA President Mike Langford says:

No matter what the disaster, the Utility Workers often are the first line of defense, working night and day to restore power, gas and water, whatever it takes to get communities up and running again. But some utility companies, even the profitable ones, are taking their cues from anti-union politicians and cutting wages, benefits and the workforce. And it’s endangering the country and our national security.

IBEW members from as far away as Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas and Kentucky are working to repair power lines all along the East Coast. Jeff Davis, business manager of IBEW Local 29 in Pittsburgh, says 45 of his members are repairing power lines in the Philadelphia area, which sits on the border of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Republican governors of both states, New Jersey’s Chris Christie and Pennsylvania’s Tom Corbett, earlier this year launched major attacks against public employees and unions. But now, both are praising FEMA and the workers who are restoring power and helping communities get back to normal. Davis says some politicians are “two-faced”: