AFSCME members are meeting the emergency in the Midwest head on – helping with relief and repair efforts. They are also providing aid to our own members who were affected by the floodwaters and the storms, losing their homes and their possessions.

The AFSCME Midwest Relief and Recovery Team – a group commissioned by the International Union in Washington, D.C. – has been working closely with our affiliates in the region to assist our brothers and sisters. Photos and more details below. You can help by making an online donation to AFSCME’s relief fund. 

The team – headed by Gloria T. Caoile (right) – talks to tornado and flood victims in Cedar Falls, Iowa, providing immediate cash assistance to about 18 members (mostly University of North Iowa (UNI) workers) who suffered losses and damages to their homes. Council 61 President Danny Homan joined their efforts and personally assured our members of the International Union’s support.

An F-5 tornado ripped through Parkersburg at 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 25. Of the 900 residents, 350 lost their homes.

Terry Drewelow (left), a UNI custodian and member of Local 2659, stands in front of the ruins of his 1902 Victorian home. Terry and his wife Darla survived the tornado by crouching under a table in the basement.

“The tornado was four miles away when we got a call to evacuate,” Terry recalls. “But within two minutes, we heard the sound of a freight train so we rushed to the basement. We figured our life was over.” Three other members suffered total losses. Eight people died that Sunday evening when the tornado hit Parkersburg. Local President Rod Baker (right), who lives in another part of town, suffered only minor damages to his house.

“This is where my house used to be,” Terry says, who is determined to pick up the pieces and rebuild. Several of his co-workers came down to assist the victims immediately after the tornado.

Before heading back to Des Moines, the Relief Team assured Rod Baker that Council 61 and the International Union will be there for our members and assist in their recovery.

Now it’s time for the rest of us to help our brothers and sisters. Your generosity will make a real difference. Make a secure online contribution now or send a check to:

AFSCME Fallen Heroes Fund
1625 L Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036-5687

(Photos by Jon Melegrito, a member of the AFSCME Midwest Relief and Recovery Team)

On Tuesday, Americans United for Change kicked off its national Bush Legacy Bus Tour, a nearly 150-stop cross-country trip to remind Americans of the last eight years of failed policies put forth by the Bush administration and its allies in Congress.

As Lee Saunders, Executive Assistant to the AFSCME International President, said at the rally:

“[L]ike John F. Kennedy once said, ‘The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie… but the myth.’ Well, we’re making sure that there are no myths about George Bush’s greatness or tall tales about his achievements. There will only be honesty about who he is and what he’s done.”

His words were echoed by Americans United for Change President Brad Woodhouse, who pointed out how the Bush legacy:

“has left an economy in recession, the costs for healthcare, college tuition, food and gas skyrocketing and out of reach for most Americans. Bush and his allies have left an environment hurling towards potential disaster, unemployment on the rise, a mortgage and housing crisis and historic lows in consumer confidence and in the number of Americans who think the country is headed in the right direction.”

The 28-ton, 45-foot long, bio-diesel-powered museum on wheels will roll on throughout the summer and fall stopping in the hometowns of Bush’s allies in Congress as well as both national political conventions and symbolic locations like New Orleans and Crawford, TX.

Watch for the Bush Legacy Bus as it tours the country, take a look at its interactive exhibits, and see video from Tuesday’s rally here:

AFSCME’s International Executive Board has issued a unanimous endorsement for President of the United States, and is preparing to mobilize more members and invest more resources than ever before.

In his latest entry on the Huffington Post, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee discusses AFSCME’s choice and what this election will mean for the issues our members care about most, such as ending privatization, providing state and local fiscal relief, fully funding and supporting public services and the workers who provide them, and guaranteeing that everyone in our country has quality, affordable health care they can count on.

Read the post.

As floodwaters ravage the Midwest, AFSCME members are working nonstop to provide relief to the tens of thousands of people who have been evacuated or forced from their homes. From staffing homeless shelters to providing medical care, they are on the frontlines meeting this emergency head on.

But just as our AFSCME brothers and sisters do everything humanly possible to aid the residents of these communities, we must bear in mind that they also need our assistance. Many have lost their homes and every possession as a result of these catastrophes.

This is why our union has donated $100,000 to the AFSCME Fallen Heroes Fund today, money that will go directly to provide relief and immediate assistance to our members in the Midwest. You can also help the victims of the floods by making a secure contribution online or by writing a check to the AFSCME Fallen Heroes Fund. Click here for more information.

After seven years of upside-down economic priorities, like tax breaks for millionaires and corporate interests, President Bush has driven us into a recession. On Friday we learned that the national unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent in May from five percent in April. This is the largest spike in unemployment in a single month since 1986.

In response, the U.S. House of Representatives is moving quickly to enact up to 13 weeks of additional unemployment benefits for people who have lost their jobs. The vote could happen as soon as tomorrow, or on Thursday, June 12.

This legislation is urgently needed.

• Nearly 325,000 Americans have lost jobs since the beginning of the year.
• 49,000 more jobs were lost in May — this is the fifth consecutive month where employers have cut jobs.
• The proposed unemployment benefits bill [HR5749] will provide up to 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits in states where workers exhaust the 26 weeks of regular unemployment benefits.
• The number of long-term unemployed workers is substantially higher than when President Bush last signed legislation providing extended benefits for workers exhausting their state unemployment benefits before finding work.

Yet, the Bush White House says extending unemployment benefits would mean workers would just end up lollygagging about, watching TV and not looking for work. Really, this is what the May 20 Bush administration’s veto threat—also called a Statement of Administration Policy—said.

“Increasing and extending unemployment insurance benefits when unemployment is this low would be unprecedented and counterproductive because it would reduce the incentive for workers to find new employment.”

Today—even with Friday’s stunning jump in unemployment—there are strong indications that some in Congress will continue to tow the Bush Administration line and will strip the UI extension from the supplemental war funding bill.

Seven years of upside-down economic priorities have left us with a slowing economy, loss of jobs, and an ever-worsening mortgage crisis at a time when the cost of health care, food and gas continues to rise. It’s going to take a lot to get our country back on track, but we can start by extending unemployment benefits for the increasing number of Americans who have lost their jobs. Congress needs to stand up for working people who can’t find work and stand up to Bush.

Read more at AFL-CIO Now Blog.