Labor

United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area  has enjoyed a cooperative relationship with the AFL-CIO  in which our local United Way provides services to members of organized labor, their families and their communities. Organized labor is also part of the decision-making process at United Way of America. Currently, Mr. Tiger Hammond president of the AFL-CIO representative serves on United Way Board of Trustees.

United Way and organized labor work together to:  

• Provide U-Can Training for union members to assist co-workers and their families with information about available local services and to refer them to the appropriate organizations.
• Solicit contributions from workers through payroll deduction, which account for approximately two-thirds of the funds that United Ways raise each year. Through the Labor Letters of Endorsement Program of the Department of Labor Participation, the AFL-CIO president asks presidents of AFL-CIO-affiliated unions, state federations and central labor councils to send letters endorsing United Way campaigns to their memberships. The Labor Letters of Endorsement Program encourages individual union members to volunteer their time and contribute their resources to United Way campaigns.
• Provide a full-time AFL-CIO Community Services Liaisons Ms. Eileen Barthe to serve as links between central labor councils and United Way.
• Support the National Association of Letter Carriers' (NALC) National Food Drive held annually on the second Saturday in May. The drive stocks local community food banks, pantries and shelters with non-perishables that Letter Carriers collect from customers along their mail routes. The drive, which has become the world's largest one-day food drive, was started by NALC in 1991 in cooperation with the U.S. Postal Service and the AFL-CIO. United Way is a full partner in this drive.