Laborfest 2008 held in San Francisco every July 5 has invited Brad Ott, of the Committee To Reopen Charity Hospital to two events on the issue. One will be in San Jose and the other in San Francisco.

April is Jazz Appreciation Month, and, yes, there are still brass bands playing in the
streets of New Orleans, marching in traditional jazz funerals and second line parades
through the back-a-town neighborhoods and main thoroughfares of the city.
And yes, there are still younger musicians coming up through the tradition, learning the
horn parts to “Liza Jane” and “Closer Walk with Thee,” and beating the cymbal with a bent
coat hanger or screwdriver.

This is the story of many working families in the post-Katrina New Orleans .  It is the story of racism, greed, opportunism, corruption and political apathy. In the two years since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans , barely 50 percent of its residents have been able to return home. Those who have come back are still seeking higher ground.

Katrina hit New Orleans on Sunday, Aug. 29, 2005. AFSCME members Charssie Muse and Janet Thomas evacuated. Daryl Bushnell, a waiter, did not. He was stranded on a rooftop for two days until help came. Two years later their stories are still raw. Their lives are broken. Their city is decimated. And they have returned to rebuild.

AFM Local 174-496 keeps the music alive two years after Hurricane Katrina.

What happens to the mail when families, homes and street signs disappear? Charles McCann, a letter carrier with 32 years of experience serving the Lower 9th Ward, delivers in the wake of disaster.

Meet three individuals -- a building trade apprentice, a public housing tenant and a labor investment officers -- who exemplify the spirit of rebuilding, renewal and tenacity that characterize the Gulf Coast rebuilding efforts.

 

Chief Steward Larry Warner had weathered a lot since he began driving for Greyhound in 1978. And then came Katrina.

 

For the displaced people of New Orleans to return, they need decent housing, good schools for their children and security in their jobs. Over two years after the disaster, many people, especially low income workers, African-Americans and union members, are having a hard time finding one of those needs, let alone all three.

Pilot program introduces urban residents to careers in the construction trades