Besieged with an ongoing series of natural disasters, New Orleans has always been a place where low-paying jobs were available for often undocumented men and women who were desperate for employment. These workers – who helped rebuild after Hurricane Katrina and other storms and are currently providing outreach services during COVID-19 – are now known as the resilient economy workforce which should be respected and provided with workforce standards.
U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Congressman Troy Carter, Governor John Bel Edwards and Mayor LaToya Cantrell met yesterday, February 7, with labor and disaster recovery leaders at Delgado Community College to acknowledge the importance of resilience workers and announce an enhanced partnership between Resilience Force, a labor non-profit advocacy groupsupports workers who prepare, protect and repair communities in the wake of disasters, and Michigan-based contractor Signal Restoration Services, an emergency response and property damage restoration contractor. After a roundtable discussion that also included Deputy Secretary of Labor Julie Su, Signal announced they would help legitimize the resilience worker industry by investing $600,000 with Resilience Force and meet additional internal goals including a $15 minimum hourly wage for workers.
“The strength of the American economy depends on the strength and resiliency of our workforce,” said Congressman Carter. “We must ensure that as we grow our economy, we empower and invest in our workforce to include more diverse voices and welcome workers and businesses from all constituencies into critical, growing sectors. Here in Louisiana, a large sector of our economy that is built around responding to and rebuilding back from natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods. We must do more to ensure that our small and local businesses and workers from historically marginalized or underemployed communities are given opportunities to participate in the rebuilding of their own community. This is a key step to a stronger recovery and building stronger communities.”
Everyone must work together to recover from a disaster. “In order to enhance equity instead of expanding inequities, we have to be strategic and bring more communities into the sector ahead of the event with efforts such as growing workforce development programs,” Carter continued.
After COVID-19 began, Resilience Force joined up with the Cantrell Administration to create the New Orleans Resilience Corps which has been assisting the city’s Health Department. Since October, 2021, community health education services have also been provided in Jefferson Parish, according to Resilience Force statewide director LaTanja Silvester.
Resilience Force is led by Saket Soni, recognized nationally as an expert on post-disaster economies, immigrant rights and the future of work. He previously founded the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice as well as the National Guestworker Alliance, an organization which focuses on defending the human rights and dignity of guestworkers in America. USA Today profiled Soni as an “architect of the next labor movement.” He has testified before Congress and the United Nations.
Walsh’s visit to New Orleans coincided with the Biden-Harris administration’s focus on good jobs and supporting the climate resilience workforce as part of historic federal investments under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and to emphasize local workforce development solutions. Walsh recent announced the department’s “Good Jobs Initiative,” a coordinated effort by the Biden-Harris Administration to improve job quality nationwide. The administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was signed on November 15, 2021.
“It is great news that President Biden and the Administration have recognized the importance of small, local business involvement in federal contracting. In 2021, they directed federal agencies to increase contracting with businesses that fall in the category of disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE) – a critical step in the right direction. I am grateful that Labor Secretary Walsh and Deputy Labor Secretary Su were able to come to New Orleans to discuss these issues and more in the community directly. We were able to highlight a model example of increasing inclusion into the resilience economy through Resilient Force’s efforts to employ historically marginalized or underemployed communities with good-paying jobs. I look forward to working with Secretary Walsh and his Department in the future, and will continue to support the PRO Act and other pro-worker and good job creation legislation,” Carter concluded.
