ROCHESTER — CSEA Wayne County Local President Paul Peters is doing his part to help people in Flint, Mich., who continue to face the crisis of lead contamination in the city’s water supply.
Peters is among the union activists who recently took a six-hour road trip to help oversee the distribution of donations by Rochester and Finger Lakes unions and to personally greet some of the families affected by the disaster.
Paul Peters
Peters, who also serves as a CSEA Western Region vice president, and other union activists loaded up the Rochester Teamsters Local #118 truck with more than 40,000 bottles of water for the trip to Flint.
“I was humbled and honored to have the opportunity to represent our local labor community in this effort,” Peters said. “It’s hard to believe that a community can go through a hardship like this. I’m just glad we are able to help in some small way.”
Local organizers also raised $13,000 in financial contributions to assist Flint area families. Western Region President Flo Tripi and Monroe County Local President Bess Watts were among the attendees at the send-off.
Peters said the road trip was one of the most inspiring and overwhelming of his union career. “I jumped at the chance to volunteer,” he said. “It was important for me to see what was happening there and learn from this experience.”
While AFSCME-represented Flint municipal workers have been fighting to provide quality public services, local and state officials have largely failed to adequately respond to the crisis.
Michigan state officials, in an attempt to make the city’s water supply fund solvent in the financially struggling city, had switched the city’s water supply in 2014 to the Flint River, which has long been contaminated with numerous pollutants.
CSEA Western Region activist Bess Watts, second from left, and Paul Peters, second from right, join labor leaders in Rochester to help deliver donated bottled water to Flint, Mich., residents.
Despite city officials’ attempts to return to its previous water source, the City of Detroit, soon afterward state officials blocked the plan until late 2015.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has been strongly criticized for how he has handled the water crisis in Flint.
Peters said the people of Flint were seriously let down by their elected officials. He added this is something you might hear or see coming from Third World countries, not cities in the United States.
“When you have a health and safety crisis of this proportion, everyone must help out and do their part,” he said. “This effort is another great example of how working people and the union family can pull together in times of crisis.”
— Ove Overmyer
