OCTOBER 28 — The Red Star Society of the United States has announced the opening of a new fund for the receipt of donations earmarked for the support of striking workers in France, according to its interim National Coordinator.
"This new fund was established by the Society as a means of fulfilling the commitment it made when it signed an international appeal for support and aid to French workers," said Martin Schreader in a statement to media yesterday.
He noted that French unions do not have funds to help workers financially when they are on strike. "Those workers still on strike have no money," he continued. "Many of them are facing hunger and possibly even homelessness as a result of standing up for their past gains."
Schreader also emphasized Society policy when speaking of the new fund. "Our charter says that 100 percent of all earmarked funds collected by us, such as those being collected for workers in other countries, are sent to their destination."
The Society is working with working people's organizations in France to establish a centralized distribution hub and network, where representatives of workers on strike can go to collect the aid, with the hope that such a hub and network will become a permanent working people's aid and relief organization.
The Red Star Society of the United States was founded in 2006 in response to the lack of genuine aid for poor and working people affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita the year before. Since that time, the Society has distributed aid to those along the Gulf Coast who were victims of subsequent hurricanes, has had members participate in reconstruction in New Orleans, has helped fill sandbags when rivers, including the Mississippi River, have overrun their banks.
Most recently, the Society helped to raise thousands of dollars in direct worker-to-worker aid and relief for victims of the January earthquake in Haiti.
