Broaden 'WTC' Coverage: Finding Fuels Union Push for Death Bill

Broaden 'WTC' Coverage  
Finding Fuels Union Push for Death B ill

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

The April 11 coroner's report linking the Jan. 5 death of retired Det. James Zadroga to his time at Ground Zero added urgency to an already fervent push from uniformed union leaders to get a death benefit tacked on to the World Trade Center disability law that covers first-responders.

PATRICK J. LYNCH: 'Shouldn't need autopsy.' Union leaders for the city's firefighters, Emergency Medical Service personnel and police officers are planning a collective effort in Albany to get the law that was signed by Governor Pataki last summer updated.

Pension-Only At Present

Currently it grants a presumptive disability to municipal workers who can prove they logged 40 hours or more at the World Trade Center site, the city morgue or the Staten Island landfill, and then later fell ill as a result.

But it doesn't provide line-of-duty death coverage for workers who, like Detective Zadroga, died from 9/11-related illnesses after being forced to take a disability retirement. The unions want those deaths reclassified as line of duty, which would confer greater benefits on surviving family members.

Patrick J. Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, said his union "would absolutely be joining with other unions to try and refine the 9/11 presumptive disability bill."

He added that "we shouldn't have to wait for an autopsy to determine that our fate was in the line of duty."

UFA's Two-Front Effort

Uniformed Firefighters' Association President Stephen J. Cassidy said, "We will continue to press for more Federal funding to monitor the health of our members and are lobbying heavily for the WTC Presumptive Bill to include death benefits."

Union leaders, however, must wait for final appointments to the Task Force that will oversee the implementation of the WTC Disability Law and recommend changes to the State Legislature.

THOMAS EPPINGER: Truth finally emerging. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver appointed Public Employee Conference Chairman Peter D. Meringolo and Lillian Roberts, District Council 37's executive director, as his two labor representatives. A spokeswoman for Mr. Silver said his third appointee, who must be an independent health expert, will be chosen shortly.

Tap Gorman, Matarazzo

Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno selected Uniformed Fire Officers' Association President Peter Gorman and Detectives' Endowment Association lobbyist Lou Matarazzo to fill his labor spots. His third choice, who must be a health expert, was Dr. Stephen Levin of Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Levin has been in charge of the WTC screening and monitoring programs.

The remaining seats on the 19-member Task Force are to be filled by the State Comptroller, the City Comptroller, an appointee from the state Department of Health, the state Labor Commissioner, the state Budget Director and the state Civil Service Commissioner.

Mayor Bloomberg has a seat that he can fill personally or with a representative. A City Hall spokeswoman couldn't confirm whether the Mayor had made a decision on his representative.

Governor Pataki has control of six seats, although one must automatically go to the state Health Commissioner. The remaining five can be designated as the Governor sees fit. A spokeswoman for the Governor wasn't sure if he had made any of his appointments.

EMS Union's Urgency

Thomas Eppinger, president of District Council 37 Local 3621, representing Emergency Medical Service officers, was hopeful that a team effort from municipal unions could quickly effect a legislative change in Albany despite the Task Force's slow start.

"We plan on being in contact with DEA President Michael Palladino on this issue because we have had three people die in EMS [from suspected 9/11-related diseases] and I have several Lieutenants and Captains in my membership who are very ill. This affects us all," he said.

Mr. Eppinger found it noteworthy that the Medical Examiner who conducted retired Detective Zadroga's autopsy and made the critical 9/11 link worked in New Jersey.

Questions City's Fairness

"I think maybe some people don't want to hear this, but it had to be taken out of [New York]. I'm not saying there was any foul play or influence in other medical examiner decisions, but when you take the politics out of it, you come to the truth," he stated. "For the M.E. in New Jersey to make this decision is huge for Zadroga's family, and huge for us. And if that [autopsy] had happened in the city, I don't think it would have come out."

Mr. Palladino drew similar conclusions about the autopsy conducted by the Ocean County Medical Examiner.

"I think others were simply afraid to say what going on. [Dr. Gerard] Breton is the first one to say it is what it is," the union leader said. "But where else did this dust come from? I think deep down in everybody's heart they know what's really going on."