For some in hurricane-ravaged southwest Florida, recovery has been relatively quick. However, as of the weekend, there were still some 69,000 reported power outages and thousands more displaced people.
Businesses are opening back up, and families are slowly continuing to make their way back to their homes or what remains when they arrive. Along with power restoration, access to clean water and basic needs are still issues state emergency managers hope to fix quickly.
Groups such as the Florida AFL-CIO have banded together with other unions across the state to help out.
Hellen Parker, director of operations for the Florida AFL-CIO, said they used to provide financial support but quickly realized after one storm to the next, financial gifts are only nice if you can use them.
"So instead of giving out financial gift cards of small value, we are now transporting, ice, we have semi-trucks of ice coming down, stuff hat people could use on the ground now: food, water, toiletries," Parker outlined.
Parker pointed out the public can still help to keep those trucks full in support of working families affected by the storm by sending donations to actionnetwork.org.
According to the governor's office, the state has provided more than 13 million meals, 47 million bottles of water and 2.2 million gallons of fuel to those in need. As of Saturday, FloridaDisasterFund.org has raised more than $40 million dollars to help those impacted by the storm.
Parker added unions from across the state will continue to chip in for as long as the need remains.
"The labor movement itself, like unions, you know, we don't have the resources to rebuild houses and things like that," Parker noted. "But we are doing everything that we can to assist the individuals, families communities, that have been affected by, in this case, another Cat-4 hurricane, Ian. "
The state has listed tips to help those affected, including resources for mental health and the Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program.
So far, the state has cleared debris from more than 2,800 miles of roadways. It also brought in around 375 Starlink satellite devices to provide internet. Other essentials such as portable restrooms are being shipped into areas still in need.
For those interested in donating to any relief organizations, the National Center for Disaster Fraud is urging the public to be on the alert for fraudsters. They recommend donating to known charities and to use credit cards instead of cash to keep a record of the transaction.
Disclosure: The Florida AFL-CIO contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy and Priorities, Civic Engagement, Livable Wages/Working Families, and Social Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
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A New York City music school's faculty is back in the classroom after a weeklong strike.
The Manhattan School of Music's Precollege Program faculty walked off the job after lengthy union negotiations broke down. The teachers have been working without a union contract since last August. While the union has made concessions, it said the school has been reluctant to compromise.
Adam Kent, president of the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Faculty Union, said they were forced to strike because the school was not taking the union seriously.
"We gave them over three weeks. We asked them if they wanted to reconsider their last proposal and they spelled it out that, no, they wouldn't be making any new proposals," Kent recounted. "We gave them two days notice when we actually declared the strike, and their first response was to try to line up 'scabs.'"
He noted the union is heading back to the bargaining table with the hope of getting a cost of living increase aligned with other schools, such as the Mannes School of Music and Juilliard. In a statement, the Manhattan School called the union's actions "disruptive to student learning" and argued they have had little or no availability to negotiate. Students, parents and other union members have joined the faculty's picket line.
While this was the first strike, Kent said he cannot say whether it will be the last. He cautioned there could be another, longer strike if the pattern of bargaining continues. He added recent comments from the school's attorney regarding the union's National Labor Relations Board case against the school make him leery about what lies ahead.
"The attorney made a comment to us, 'Good luck with your board,' in the context of the eviscerating of all of these federal agencies under the new administration, and we were really chilled by that," Kent acknowledged. "We really saw it as part of this idea of people claiming impunity and taking advantage of the current political climate."
Throughout negotiations, there have been questions about how much money is available for faculty raises. The school has continuously said there are not enough funds for a pay raise, but tax filing data show the school's president and executives received large pay increases last year. Other data indicate the school's tuition has risen 58% since 2014.
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Whether it's pressure from inflation or health-care costs eating away at savings, a reliable "nest egg" is still up in the air for many Americans.
There are calls to bring more certainty and retirement simplicity to the table for workers. Pensions offered to public employees are seen as more stable because they're not shaken by movements in the financial markets.
In recent polling from the National Institute on Retirement Security, 86% of Americans say all workers, including the private sector, should have a retirement plan that is more pension-driven.
Dan Doonan, executive director of the National Institute on Retirement Security, says retirement coverage is still too spotty for non-wealthy workers, leaving them on their own to put away savings.
"In general, we're just asking way too much of individuals to get all this right. And saving during the middle years of your life to provide income throughout retirement, it really is a challenging endeavor," he explained.
He added the good news is that more states, including Minnesota, are setting up programs that enroll private-sector workers in an IRA-style plan.
The goal is to step in when a company can't or won't offer retirement perks. Experts say they're easy for states to operate and benefit small businesses because they don't have to contribute. But for the workers, the IRAs typically have lower contribution limits, meaning the retirement savings might not stretch as far.
Just like state and local governments, Doonan said a more simplified network of retirement programs around the country can help companies in the private sector avoid staff turnover.
"As they do move in that direction, I think what you'll see is more loyalty in return to the company. So, there are some benefits for private employers, especially employers who value retention," he continued.
Congress has taken its own steps by adopting policies such as the Secure 2.0 Act, which updates federal rules dealing with retirement plans in hopes of boosting access. Doonan said those reforms could steer more people toward savings accounts similar to pensions. But he warns rising health care costs for older populations still could put a damper on things. And partisan divides remain in Congress over the future of Social Security.
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A recent round of employee cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency and other efforts by President Donald Trump's administration to follow through on the president's campaign promise to reduce the size of the federal government have prompted concern among government employees.
In Iowa, the cuts will have an effect on a number of employees.
Charlie Wishman, president of the Iowa AFL-CIO, said the cuts or job reclassifications threaten veterans' services employees, civil servants who work at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, just across Iowa's western border, programs that help people access Social Security benefits, or work in government security jobs in Des Moines. He said all the moves are not being made based on facts.
"Beyond that, it's a real problem to transform the professional civil service into an army of political appointees that are just loyal to one person and not to the mission to the American public or to what their job is actually supposed to be," asserted,
The American Federation of Government Employees marched in Washington, D.C., on Monday to rally against, among a host of measures, House Resolution 201, which would recalculate the way federal agencies evaluate employee performance and calculate their pay. The administration said it is making good on President Trump's campaign pledge to reduce the size of the federal government.
Wishman acknowledged while the looming job cuts across Iowa and the country create uncertainty among government employees, there is a bright spot.
"People understand that the way for them to fight back is collectively," emphasized. "AFGE has seen their numbers of new members jump by thousands since the president got his pen out and started writing executive orders, some of which aren't even legal."
A federal judge late last week ordered a temporary hold on Trump's order to effectively dismantle
the U.S. Agency for International Development, saying the affected employees would suffer "irreparable harm" from layoffs with no notice.
Disclosure: The Iowa Federation of Labor contributes to our fund for reporting on Environmental Justice, Livable Wages/Working Families, Social Justice, and Urban Planning/Transportation. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
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