TUC Aid for Haiti Earthquake Appeal

TUC Aid for Haiti Earthquake Appeal

This circular sets out the information we have received from local trade unions about the devastating Haiti Earthquake, and, as agreed by the TUC Executive Committee meeting on 19 January, urges unions to donate to the TUC Aid for Haiti Earthquake Appeal and take part in a special Concert for Haiti on Wednesday 3 February 2010 in Congress House.

Background

On 12 January a very violent earthquake, followed by a huge number of aftershocks, hit Haiti. This natural disaster has had a truly dramatic impact. In addition to the human losses, which are probably in dozens of thousands, reports have conveyed the drastic humanitarian and health situation, exacerbated by the fact that many buildings have been totally destroyed.

The TUC wishes to send its condolences to the Haitian people and the families of workers and trade unionists who lost their lives in the earthquake, including Denise, the Finance Officer of the ITUC affiliate in Haiti, the CTH. We salute the work being done by British fire fighters, health workers and NGO staff in Haiti.

The information we have received indicates that a number of trade unionists have gone to the head office of INAFOS, the CTH's training centre, to help the many people who have gathered there. The needs are immense (water, food, clothes and medicine). The CTH headquarters, in the very centre of Port-au-Prince, is reported to have been damaged.

SOS Solidarity Haiti and the TUC Aid Appeal

In coordination with the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA), the ITUC has decided to launch a solidarity campaign with Haitian trade unionists, and the TUC is seeking support for this campaign through TUC Aid.

In the first phase the ITUC will focus on providing emergency aid and will send an initial financial contribution to its affiliated organisations in the Dominican Republic (CASC-CNUS-CNTD). Those organisations joined forces in the first few hours after the earthquake. They sent teams over to Haiti and opened up their offices for collecting funds, food, clothes and various other materials. Their aid convoys will continue to cross the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where they will coordinate with the Haitian unions on the other side. The ITUC will also make a contribution to the International Red Cross appeal.

Donations can be made by sending cheques, made out to TUC Aid, to Haiti Earthquake Appeal, c/o EUIRD, . Online donations can be made through www.tuc.org.uk/haitiappeal Please advertise this to your regions and branches, and on your websites or in union journals. If your union is donating money in other ways, please let the TUC know so that we can record the total sum raised.

Concert for Haiti

On Wednesday 3 February, from 7-10pm, the TUC will be hosting a concert for Haiti as part of the TUC Aid Haiti Earthquake Appeal. Tickets are £10 each (pay bar) and unions are encouraged to block book tickets and advertise the event to staff and members.

Organised for the TUC by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, artists will be giving their services free for the evening. Billy Bragg, poet Jean 'Binta' Breeze, Cuban salsa band Son Mas and Omar Puente have already confirmed, and Courtney Pine and Benjamin Zephaniah along with others have been invited to perform. Unions and others will be invited to sponsor the programme for the evening, and Philosophy Football are producing tee-shirts for the event. We will be announcing a series of donations to the TUC Aid appeal on the night, as well as encouraging further donations.

For tickets and all information, visit the website www.concertforhaiti.co.uk or contact TUC Concert for Haiti, c/o Cuba Solidarity Campaign - tel: 020 8800 0155. If you want your union logo on the website, please call that number.