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04/06/2006:
"Workers in the Aftermath of Katrina: Survival of the Fittest"
Six months after Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf Coast struggles with a new challenge-who will do the rebuilding? The region is awash in clean-up and reconstruction projects, but with more than 1.5 million people displaced by the hurricane, ready hands are in short supply.In many areas, the tight post-Katrina labor market has already had stunning effects-construction jobs regularly advertise starting pay of $15 an hour or more, and a gig at Burger King might land you a $6,000 bonus.
But even with tight labor markets, workers in the region are finding conditions-and organizing against those conditions-challenging.
The hurricane has created enormous problems for the Gulf Coast's union workers. Waste Management Inc.-one of the largest waste services companies in the United States-is one such example. The company handled trash pick-ups for the city of New Orleans before Katrina.
But after the storm, FEMA took over garbage collection for the city and Waste Management secured several lucrative subcontracts for debris removal. In the process, the company dumped its unionized workers and replaced them with temps. Waste Management even set up a camp just north of the Huey Long Bridge for its temp laborers.
counterpunch.org
