Nine months after the December 2004 tsunami that devastated South Asia, reconstruction work and other assistance and support from the international trade union community is well under way. With contributions from AFT members, affiliates and others to the union’s tsunami disaster relief fund, the AFT has sent $100,000 to Education International (EI) for relief efforts, and additional contributions of $40,000 each are being sent to Public Services International (PSI) and the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center.

Education International, a federation of more than 345 organizations representing teachers and education personnel around the world, is focusing its efforts on Sri Lanka and the Aceh province of Indonesia, the two regions hit hardest by the tsunami. While much remains to be done, EI reports, the process of reconstructing schools has begun.

Both EI and PSI are participating in the Global Unions Tsunami Solidarity project in cooperation with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the Global Union Federations to coordinate relief efforts and funding.