UBC members pitch in to help when needed because it’s the right thing to do, not because they expect a pat on the back.
Nonetheless, New Orleans firefighters delivered a solid slap between the shoulder blades on Aug. 27 when they formally thanked the Brotherhood for the work selfless carpenters from New York donated over the past three years in rebuilding 11 firehouses devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
UBC General President Doug McCarron was on hand for the ceremonies at a rebuilt New Orleans firehouse and praised the New York members and the values that motivated them.
“What we celebrate here is the spirit that is, was, and always will be our homeland security,” he said. “I want to give credit to the members that made this happen. Your efforts to help others in their time of need stand in the best traditions of our Brotherhood and our nation.”
Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in late August 2005, breaching nearly every levee in the metropolitan area. Eighty percent of the city and neighboring parishes became flooded. Katrina has been described as the largest natural disaster in U.S. history, causing damage estimated in excess of $100 billion and more than 1,800 deaths in the storm and subsequent flooding.
New Orleans firefighters, who performed 15,000 boat rescues during Katrina, needed some help themselves as temporary quarters in trailers next to the damaged firehouses slowed response times and dampened morale.
The UBC’s efforts to help firehouse reconstruction began in 2006 when Local 608 member Gerry Crimmins, an instructor at the New York Labor Technical College, went to New Orleans to visit his son at college. Crimmins saw the extent of the damage to the city and its firehouses, where the firefighters, who remained to man their posts during the crisis, were living in the crowded trailers.
“I was shocked at how bad things still were,” Crimmins said. He mobilized members of the New York City and Vicinity District Council in 2006, and in March of the next year, 18 carpenters from the New York area began the rebuilding process on the firehouses.
Regular trips involving dozens of other members continued for the next three years and eventually the Brotherhood, with donations of materials from local suppliers and signatory contractors, completely restored 11 firehouses. The estimated number of work-hours on the project was in excess of 8,000, and the estimated value of materials and labor on the project was $1.5 million.
The effort became, as New Orleans Fire Department Assistant Superintendent Timothy McConnell called it, a story of “unions helping unions, brothers helping brothers.”
“There’s a huge difference between someone who wants to help and skilled union labor coming down to get the project done,” McConnell said. “These skilled craftsmen made a huge difference.”
The New York carpenters were not alone in contributing their skills, as Brotherhood members from throughout North America pitched in on other fronts. A contingent of Canadian members helped storm victims rebuild their lives in Marksville, west of New Orleans. In Moss Point, Miss., about 110 miles east of New Orleans, a newly opened union training center, built by skilled UBC hands, went through the hurricane unscathed and was turned into a relief center for storm victims.
Carpenters who couldn’t personally help contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to aid their union brothers and sisters.
On another level, the Louisiana Regional Council worked diligently to ensure that workers involved in reconstruction were fairly compensated. The council helped make sure that Davis-Bacon prevailing wage protections were put in place, making it harder for unscrupulous contractors to operate. A Responsible Contracting Ordinance requiring proper classification of workers, health insurance, and workers’ compensation of construction workers is being considered by the New Orleans City Council.
Throughout, UBC members from New Orleans were at the forefront of the effort, putting their community back together. Much work remains, particularly in the eastern areas of the city, which remain devastated. But thanks in good measure to the efforts of union members, New Orleans is getting back on its feet.
“Slowly things are coming back to normal,” said Louisiana Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Jason Engels. “We’re absolutely going to make it.”