Steelworkers Humanity Fund to Help Families Affected by Typhoon Ketsana
10/06/2009 - The USW’s Steelworkers Humanity Fund is making a $10,000 contribution to assist people left homeless in the Philippines due to flooding caused by Typhoon Ketsana.
The United Steelworkers' (USW) Steelworkers Humanity Fund is making a $10,000 contribution to assist people left homeless due to flooding caused by Typhoon Ketsana in the Philippines.
"The emergency aid will be channeled through Développement et Paix/Development and Peace. Development and Peace has long-standing connections in the Philippines and we are confident the working through their Philippine partners aid will reach affected people," said USW National Director Ken Neumann, who is also president of the Steelworkers Humanity Fund, said
Typhoon Ketsana, which struck the northern Philippines on September 26, dumped more than a month of rain in just 12 hours, triggering the worst flooding to hit the country in more than 40 years. The flooding forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and destroyed an estimated 180,000 tons of paddy rice.
Founded by the United Steelworkers union in 1985, the Steelworkers Humanity Fund is a registered charitable organization. Steelworker members contribute to the Fund through clauses negotiated into collective agreements, which most commonly provide for a contribution of $20 per year, per union member. The mandate of the Steelworkers Humanity Fund is to address issues of hunger and poverty, primarily in the developing world, through development assistance and emergency aid.
