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Tragedy Strikes, Action Follows

October 2005 IBEW Journal

Our national tragedies bleed into one another. We try to fathom the pain of the husband who lost his wife’s grip in the rushing tide of Hurricane Katrina, just as we forever try to grasp the anguish of families who witnessed their loved ones extinguished in the blazing Twin Towers four years ago.

As we were preparing to mark the fourth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Hurricane Katrina came roaring up the Gulf of Mexico. The storm had already hit southern Florida, a state still recovering from the triple whammy of hurricanes in 2004. But that was just the warm-up for the devastation Katrina visited upon parts of Mississippi and Alabama. And just as the people of New Orleans thought they had dodged the worst of the tempest, the levees holding back the Mississippi River gave in, bringing the worst destruction ever wrought on a major American city. The extent of the devastation was so complete that it was difficult to comprehend.

The failure of government to act quickly to help the victims is now well known. But the people held up their part. Rescue workers and volunteers risked their lives to save others. As always, utility and outside line workers, including thousands of our members, went to work to restore vital power. Many more construction workers were poised to begin the rebuilding effort.

From what seemed like worlds away, many others showed tremendous generosity to help. Checks for relief efforts poured in, including to our own IBEW Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund (see page 10).

Many commented on the feeling of helplessness they felt watching the suffering of the people of the Gulf Coast. We realized early on that the IBEW is not a relief organization and could not duplicate the work of the Red Cross, and the federal agencies (once they finally got on the stick). But we knew immediately that we had an obligation to help our members and their communities in any way we can. An estimated 3,000 IBEW members and their families were affected by Hurricane Katrina in one way or another. Getting them back on their feet became the Brotherhood’s priority. Our efforts included such immediate necessities as bottled water and moved on to soliciting corporate donations of tools and work boots for members affected by the storm. Our relief fund will give us the resources to help members with the long-term rebuilding of their lives and homes. This is an effort that will take many months, probably years.

There is work of another nature to be done. Even in the face of unspeakable tragedy, the Bush Administration, so slow to alleviate the suffering of those left with nothing because of the hurricane and subsequent floods, wasted no time in implementing their own political agenda. The traumatic events in southern Mississippi and New Orleans were compounded on September 9 when the President announced that he was suspending the Davis-Bacon Act in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama.

Davis-Bacon, passed in 1931, provides for workers on federal projects to be paid the prevailing wages for their geographical regions. Underscored by the belief that the American people don’t want our tax dollars subsidizing employers who fail to pay workers a living wage, the law has benefited generations of IBEW and building trade members.

Claiming that suspending Davis-Bacon is necessary to lower the cost of federal rebuilding efforts to taxpayers, the administration is slashing the wages of our members and others in the Gulf before many have even returned to work. The very workers who are being asked to wade into the toxic muck to clean up behind the floods are also being told that they do not even deserve to earn the prevailing wage – which is already low in the mostly nonunion Gulf area. This is salt in the wounds of the suffering and yet another giveaway to wealthy contractors who write big campaign checks for presidential campaigns and who expect to continue their profiteering ways even in the face of this disaster. Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney’s old company, is already moving in to reap profits from this disaster, just as it has made millions from contracts in Iraq. You don’t need to be a math wizard to put two and two together.

Lest there be any confusion about where the president’s action could lead, we should listen to the voice of Grover Norquist, one of Bush’s main supporters and a leader of Republican conservatives. He says that Republicans should seize on Bush’s precedent to end Davis-Bacon everywhere. Eliminating prevailing wages was a plank in the Republican platforms of 1996 and 2000.

Norquist is reminding us that, like hurricanes which batter the South, economic and political forces in that right-to-work region can and will shift northward.

This prospect of growing economic anguish has stimulated an overdue discussion about class, race and our national priorities.

Big Oil executives blame Katrina for rising fuel prices, while rolling in record profits and salaries. Sensing the growing anger at corporate America’s profiteering, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., even postponed the introduction of a bill to permanently cut taxes on the estates of the super rich.

While some choose to blame the victims of Katrina for not evacuating New Orleans, the undeniable reality is that most of the citizens who were left behind or remained are African-Americans who labor at the very bottom of the city’s pay scale and lacked suitable transportation or financial means to get out in time.

In a most remarkable shift in public opinion, in Katrina’s wake, a majority of Americans now feel that the main danger facing America is not terrorism, but the shape of our domestic economy. Millions more openly question whether our nation’s military engagement in Iraq has left us more vulnerable to disasters on the home front.

As we sort through these weighty questions, all members should be proud of IBEW hurricane relief efforts across the U.S. and Canada (the original home of many Louisiana residents). They are a fitting tribute to the memory of recently-passed President Emeritus Jack Barry, who always strove to build a union of “hearts and minds.”

Our generous charitable efforts must be closely followed by a well-organized effort to prevent political opportunists, in high places and low, from exploiting Katrina’s destruction to weaken the labor movement, hurting the workers and the poor who our government is sworn to protect.

The fight to protect Davis-Bacon is on. On our side are millions of Americans who, despite what President Bush believes, still do not want their tax dollars subsidizing employers who exploit workers.

The large tragedy of Hurricane Katrina did not exempt us from personal losses, nor weaken their sting. On August 28, just two days before the storm hit, we lost our International President Emeritus Barry. Jack was one of the most influential presidents this Brotherhood has ever had (see page 8). His dedication and leadership through some of the most difficult years in our union’s proud history will always be remembered. He was known and respected by thousands of IBEW officers, staff, local union leaders and activists, but the tens of thousands of members who may never have met him owe him a great debt of gratitude because everything he did helped make all our lives better.

We knew Jack as a leader and as a personal friend and mentor. We salute the passing of a great brother. He is no longer with us in this world, but his legacy will never die.