UUSC is committed to protecting workers’ rights in the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast, and to secure jobs for local residents with fair wages and safe working conditions. In order to rebuild their lives and livelihoods, survivors in the Gulf Coast region need good jobs with fair wages and safe working conditions.

The attempt to reconstruct the Gulf Coast provides a vantage point on the struggles that have faced the working poor in the United States for generations. The issues of racism and poverty became part of public awareness when the nation saw who was struggling to escape their flooded homes.

Legislation has been introduced that would provide congressional oversight of the Gulf Coast reconstruction in a way that will help ensure that residents, including those who have been displaced by the hurricanes, can return to their homes with an opportunity to work and rebuild their lives.

Take Action Now

Contact your representative in the House and urge him or her to support H.R. 3838, the Hurricane Katrina Accountability and Contracting and Reform Act, to establish the Independent Commission to Prevent Fraud and Abuse in the Response to Hurricane Katrina. The bill introduced by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) needs grassroots support to continue moving through Congress.

Call the Capitol switchboard directly at 202-224-3121 where you can ask to be connected to your representative's office. You can also send an immediate message by e-mail through our online Legislative Action Center.

Message

• I am a member of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and your constituent. I strongly urge you to prevent fraud and abuse in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast region.


• Ethical standards must be established for all companies receiving taxpayer dollars and subsidies, to provide good jobs, safe working conditions and housing for displaced Gulf Coast residents and other workers.


• Monitoring mechanisms must be established to ensure that rebuilding jobs and contracts go to local residents, including immigrants.


• The reconstruction must be large scale, informed by democratic participation and debate and designed to give Gulf State residents, both those now in the region and those displaced by the storms, an opportunity to work at good jobs and live in dignity.


• The contracting process must become open and transparent. Those who abuse the process must be held accountable. Local and minority firms must be hired. Demonstrated respect for labor and environmental laws must be a requirement of contracting.


• Congress must pass legislation to establish transparent and ethical contracting standards with serious criminal penalties for violations of labor and environmental law.

Background

In order to rebuild their lives and livelihoods, survivors in the Gulf Coast region need good jobs with fair wages and safe working conditions. Under current federal law, state unemployment programs must absorb most of the costs of layoffs caused by a major disaster. Subcontractors hire low-wage workers, mostly immigrants, and fail to pay them, citing lack of identification. Out-of-state companies and contractors take advantage of lucrative contracts while state residents suffer unemployment, and local contractors sit idle without contracts.

Immediate action is needed to address crucial issues. Billions of dollars are at stake in the Gulf Coast reconstruction process. This process offers a critical opportunity to define and shape reconstruction standards and priorities. Will reconstruction respond to a people's agenda, or a big-business agenda? This bill provides a way to hold contractors accountable for worker abuses, promotes fair competition, and reduces the opportunity for cronyism. Let’s allow local and minority contractors a fair chance to work and create jobs within Gulf Coast communities.