In Hurricane Ruins, North Carolina Food Workers Organize and Fight

[Omaha Steve]

Restaurant workers threw themselves into cooking meals for thousands of displaced people with the local Mutual Aid Disaster Relief group. AFBU members helped workers apply for relief funds, while another crew drove water tubs around to help isolated seniors flush their toilets. Photo: AFBU

https://labornotes.org/2024/12/hurricane-ruins-north-carolina-food-workers-organize-and-fight

December 05, 2024 / Keith Brower Brown

Twenty-one days without running water. A week before any cell service or internet. Hospitals closed, and thousands of houses swept away.

Not long after developers started trumpeting the city of Asheville, North Carolina, as a “climate haven” from coastal storms, the area experienced catastrophic flooding. Upland Tennessee and North Carolina were the hardest hit by Hurricane Helene on September 27.

For restaurant workers, the crisis is still getting worse, says Miranda Escalante, a hotel bartender and co-chair of Asheville Food & Beverage United, an organization of restaurant workers. At least three-quarters have been laid off since the storm, she said, in what would have been peak season. But their landlords are still demanding rent.

When a climate disaster hits, what can unions do? North Carolina’s service workers are demanding that recovery and rebuilding happen on their terms.

FULL story at link above.

[Biophilic]

1. Same problem, different area, different story.

I know my area in SW Florida wasn't devastated as much as western Carolina this time, but we had just recovered from several major hurricanes over the last 3 years. Each year the restaurant owners association pulled together to rebuild and keep their employees paychecks coming. They had benefits for each other and supported any activity to help pay for peoples rents etc. I haven't seen anything like this cooperation before. It was really impressive. That has happened for 3 years running following 3 major hurricanes. They have mostly had to rebuild their restaurants and support their staff and each time they have managed to pull off what I think of as major miracles.