A union's unsung heroes: New Orleans Teamsters who stayed behind to help

Matthew Shropshire, a Teamster hero at ABF

Observing the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we continue our look back at the disaster and the heroism of Teamsters who helped those in need. Today's post tells the story of two Teamsters in New Orleans who risked their lives to help those less fortunate in the community. 

Matthew Shropshire, an ABF driver and 30-year member of Local 270 in New Orleans, was ready to leave town when he received a call from one of his church members asking to help evacuate elderly congregants. Without hesitation, Shropshire stayed to assist, boarding up windows and transporting members from their homes to seek refuge elsewhere. He returned home that evening with the intention of leaving the next morning. Little did he know the levees would break:

The next morning I got a call from my daughter telling me the levees broke. I couldn’t believe how much water there was when I looked out the window. My SUV was sitting in the drive way and all I could see was the windshield up. It was that much water. By the time I went downstairs and opened the door, the water had made it to the top step. It was moving that fast.

Stranded in his upstairs bedroom, Shropshire spent days waiting to be saved. After four days with no sign of rescue, he and his neighbors began communicating from their top floor windows to discuss escape plans. Shropshire got to work on a makeshift raft using a door from his closet:

We could see the interstate through our windows and knew if we could make it to the overpass that we’d get picked up by someone. Finally I said, ‘If nobody has come by Wednesday I’m going to swim out. Wednesday came and me and my neighbors made our way through the water using my closet door as a raft. On the way to the overpass, I saw at least three bodies float by…We were picked up and relocated to the airport. When I saw all the body bags on the tarmac, I knew the death toll was going to be high. All we could do was pray that the others still stuck inside the city would be as lucky as us.

Richard Pierre, a Teamster hero at UPS

Like Shropshire, Local 270 member and UPS feeder driver Richard Pierre was helping members of his church the day before the storm, too. A part-time pastor of a church in East New Orleans, he also stayed behind to help those in need: 

I remember there was one woman with six children who needed her windows boarded and a blind elderly lady who needed to be transported to the church. The names of people needing assistance were piling up. I did everything I could to help anyone who needed help.

As a child of Hurricane Betsy, Pierre had an idea of what was to come when he heard the levees had failed. He also knew East New Orleans would be hit the hardest. A wall of water rushed toward Pierre while he was searching the streets for people in need of refuge:

I didn’t see it at first, but I could hear it intensifying. It sounded like a machine gun. Then I saw a huge wave of water coming my way. We started running back to the church. I’ll never forget seeing the lady in her car, flipping over and being washed away by the wave of water coming down the street. I watched out the window for hours as a man clung to a pole. Everything from shrimp to bricks to cars and tree branches were flying past him and hitting him. To this day, I still don’t know how he withstood the force of it all. He was flapping on that pole for seven hours straight. There was just no way for us to get to him.

Tired of watching helplessly, Pierre and another man decided to take action, risking their lives to swim out and rescue the man. Despite sustaining multiple injuries bringing the man to safety, he continued to brave the dangerous waters in the pursuit of helping others in the days before the helicopters arrived to transport him and the others to the Superdome, where he received immediate medical attention.

The resilience, courage and compassion of brave members like Richard and Matthew serve as two examples of how the Teamster spirit triumphs in the face of tragedy. A grateful union thanks them for their service and leadership.

Unions do worker training better

President Hoffa lauded CDL program grads earlier this year at Fort Sill, Okla.

We've written extensively about the importance of unions in American life -- how unions provide a pathway to the middle class by paying $200 a week more than non-union jobs as well as offering good health care and other benefits.

One thing that is often overlooked, however, is how unions provide skilled workers to American companies. For decades, trained labor professionals have taken up important roles in many different sectors of society. The Teamsters, for example, have been at the forefront of providing qualified truckers to businesses so they can safety transport cargo along the highways of this nation.

But increasingly, the corporate class has taken the cheap way out. And they are paying the price for that, as a Washington Post story states:

Although it has historically constructed high-quality educational pipelines to well-paying jobs in cooperation with employers, labor has lost ground over the years. In the absence of union training programs, businesses in vast sectors of the economy are scrambling to meet their workforce needs through other means, like piecemeal job training programs and partnerships with community colleges, with few solutions that have really broad reach.

Some have attempted to go around the union model and form apprenticeships. But as the article states, in many cases that can "lead to a proliferation of low-quality programs." Imitators often can't provide the same skills that unions have.

The Teamsters haven't stopped trying to improve the skills of hardworking Americans. In fact, it is a integral part of our core mission. Earlier this year, the union announced it was teaming with the U.S. Army and ABF Freight to provide commercial driver's license (CDL) training to veterans transitioning to civilian life. It's just the latest effort of the Teamster Military Assistance Program.

In addressing the first graduating class of drivers at Fort Sill, Okla. in March, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said the union was providing a service that he hoped would be expanded:

The men and women who defend and protect our country deserve good, full-time jobs when they return home. I am proud that our union is working in this great partnership to honor our military veterans and help them transition to a rewarding civilian career.

If America wants to compete in an increasingly global economy, it needs to do more to succeed. Better worker training means better services and safety for all Americans. Labor unions like the Teamsters make it happen every day.

A college degree is not the answer for all workers. It should be the goal of lawmakers across the political spectrum to encourage youth not pursuing post-secondary academic studies to obtain training in a skill area that will provide them with the opportunity to earn a living wage and give them a career track that will ultimately give them a foothold in the middle class.

Increasing worker training, particularly through labor unions like the Teamsters, will ensure that will happen. That's good for workers and good for America.