Union Member Volunteers Fly to Puerto Rico to Help in Hurricane Maria Relief Efforts

This week, the labor movement demonstrated what union solidarity is all about. More than 300 union members boarded a flight in Newark, New Jersey headed for San Juan, Puerto Rico. The United Airlines flight, which also carried 35,000 pounds of relief supplies, was volunteered by the airline for a business-labor partnership with the Association of Flight Attendants, the Air Line Pilots Association, and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

The union members and leaders who arrived in Puerto Rico this week include nurses, doctors, firefighters, electricians, engineers, carpenters, and truck drivers ready to assist in humanitarian aid and the rebuilding of Puerto Rico. Locally, members of IBEW Local 3, Teamsters Joint Council 16, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, National Nurses United, and UAW joined the effort. The entire group was accompanied by Liz Shuler, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO.