THE CHIEF-LEADER welcomes letters from its readers for publication.
Correspondents must include their names, addresses and
phone numbers. Letters should be submitted with the understanding
that all correspondence is subject to the editorial judgment of this
newspaper. Letters can be e-mailed to: RSTEIER@RCN.COM or
mailed to: Richard Steier, Editor, 277 Broadway, Suite 1506, NY, NY
10007.

TRANSIT JOB HAZARDS

Transit Job Hazards

 
To the Editor:

While a long-term study on the effects of creosote exposure on New York City Transit workers (May 5 article) is absolutely necessary, it is only the tip of the iceberg. In addition to creosote, workers are subjected to the inhalation of a host of other extremely harmful contaminants such as diesel fumes and steel and manganese particulates.

In addition to these less-obvious, more-silent killers, every day we toil under the incredible hazard of relentlessly oncoming trains and electrified third rails. The stress which this daily work environment places on our bodies is immeasurable. TWU Local 100 members deserve a 20/50 pension. The dangers we routinely face, and the toll it takes on our lives, warrant retirement at age 50.

The politicians who oppose pension reform for transit workers should come work alongside us for a day. They should forego their cocktail parties for just one night and come join us in "the hole" for a rail job. After joining a gang of workers one time in dragging a 1,300-pound rail a few hundred feet down the roadbed in the dark, through mud and some other unidentifiable goo, they would surely change their opinion.

JOHN SAMUELSEN, Chair, Track Division, TWU Local 100