Labor & Employment Law

Solidarity in Action: Supporting Haitian Workers After the Earthquake

By admin

1. Solidarity Center Country Program Director Alex Aleman outlines response strategies during a meeting with Haitian labor leaders.

   This is a cross-post from the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center.

One year ago, a massive earthquake shattered Haiti, violently disrupting the lives of more than 1 million people and killing more than 200,000. Workers in the island nation faced extraordinary challenges as they struggled to find loved ones, bury their dead, and secure shelter for their families amid the rubble.

Today, the situation for Haitian workers and their families is brighter, thanks to the generous contributions of more than 1,000 individuals and organizations to the Solidarity Center?s Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers Fund. With this money, the Solidarity Center has been able to work closely with our Haitian and Dominican partners on the ground to provide immediate and long-term assistance as Haitian workers continue to rebuild their lives.

Starting only days after the quake, the Solidarity Center dispatched regular truckloads of supplies?canned food, water, rehydration fluids, tents, plastic tarps, electric generators, diapers, blankets, first-aid supplies, medicine, and hygiene kits for women?into Haiti from the Dominican Republic. Over time, we also:

• Paid educational fees for 450 children of union members to attend school.
• Partnered with the AFT to establish the union-run Workers Solidarity Clinic, aimed at serving the health care needs of 26,000 union members and their families.
• Purchased and installed solar energy panels and work stations for Solidarity Center partner AUMOHD (Association of University Students Committed to a Haiti with Rights), a worker education and legal support organization based in Port-au-Prince whose office escaped severe damage and now serves as a neutral space for several Haitian unions.
• Worked with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to develop and deploy cholera brigades, each composed of 50 trained union members, that deliver much-needed hygiene and sanitation kits as well as information about preventing and identifying the disease to workers and families in the hardest-hit areas.
• Provided laptops to union partners, thus ensuring ongoing communication and continued operation.

The crisis in Haiti is far from over. With your help, the Solidarity Center can continue to assist Haitian workers and their families rebuild and look to a brighter future.

Click here to contribute to the Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers Fund.

If you prefer, you may donate by check. Please make your check payable to Solidarity Center Education Fund and send to:

Solidarity Center Education Fund
888 16th Street, N.W., Suite 400
Washington, D.C. 20006

Please designate “Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers” in the memo line of the check.

The Solidarity Center Education Fund is a tax-exempt charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on January 12, 2011 (boomark / email).