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Washington, D.C.—Thousands of federal workers nationwide at agencies represented by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) are putting their regular job duties on hold to use their diverse skills to help victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

At the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), hundreds of volunteers have been deployed to the Gulf Coast where they are working up to 16-hour shifts on a long list of physically- and emotionally-demanding duties. Among them are search and rescue—and now recovery—missions, and humanitarian efforts that have included delivering ready-to-eat meals, water, tarpaulin and other supplies to victims. Some CBP employees have been sworn in as temporary Louisiana state troopers and are working with local law enforcement officers on patrolling neighborhoods and securing temporary morgues.

“These CBP employees have left the comfort of their homes and families for extended tours of duty that require them to perform demanding tasks over long shifts—all the while living in tents and school gymnasiums. They are nothing short of heroic,” said Colleen M. Kelley, president of NTEU, which represents 14,000 CBP employees in the Department of Homeland Security.

Meanwhile, thousands of employees of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in Atlanta, Dallas, Philadelphia and Buffalo, NY, call sites are answering the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) toll-free telephone lines and filing applications for federal assistance seven days a week. Nearly 5,000 IRS employees have been providing FEMA with support services during federal disasters in past years through an agreement between the agencies. However, call volume has been so high in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita that seasonal employees were recalled to help and the centers have stayed dedicated to FEMA use longer than in the past crises.

In addition, IRS employees have been assigned to staff dozens of FEMA’s local disaster recovery centers where they are assisting with tax return preparation, providing disaster relief kits and answering questions about casualty losses and other complex tax-related issues.

“The last thing you want to think about if you have been impacted by a disaster of this magnitude is your taxes,” said President Kelley. “This important service IRS employees are providing goes a long way toward easing the financial concerns of hurricane victims so they can focus on the difficult process of rebuilding their lives.”

Separately, 2,500 IRS employees responded to a general government-wide call from FEMA for 2,000 volunteers to provide other types of onsite assistance in recovery operations. NTEU represents more than 94,000 employees in the IRS.

Even federal employees not assigned to hurricane relief duties are helping from hundreds of miles away. NTEU members have donated tens of thousands of dollars in just three weeks to the NTEU Hurricane Fund established through the Federal Employee Education and Assistance (FEEA) Fund. In addition, some NTEU chapters have held clothing drives and fundraisers to benefit the NTEU Hurricane Fund. Donations can be made to the NTEU FEEA Fund, by visiting www.feea.org.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments.