Don't Exclude TWU

To the Editor:

I am writing concerning your editorial in the Aug. 14 issue of The Chief-Leader regarding the new pension and death benefit protections for those who worked at Ground Zero.

In your editorial, you applaud Governor Pataki for finally recognizing the longterm occupational health problems facing rescue, recovery and construction workers at the World Trade Center. That it took almost five years to take an action that his own state Department of Health medical professionals would have recommended far earlier should not be forgotten, but finally taking the action is better than not.

I hope that he can prevail upon the Mayor of the City of New York, who also has a Department of Health which is knee-deep in the long-term effects of the respiratory, gastric and mental health problems facing WTC-related workers, to do the same. Length of time working at the WTC must be the criteria for qualifications, not just diagnostic tests which are all-too-often not equipped to identify the health problems which are now occurring and will certainly occur in the next period of time. For example, it is a well-documented fact that it often takes 15 to 20 years for asbestos-related problems such as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma to surface. The State of New York Workers' Compensation system finally recognized these health and disability manifestations years after the facts were before them.

The "WTC Soup" of occupational health hazards, as it is referred to in the scientific literature, has yielded disabilities and deaths for which it will not be easy to identify an exact cause. We cannot wait that length of time for WTC victims.

That the Governor extended reporting deadlines for Workers' Comp qualifying is also a good thing, but there should not be any reporting deadline on this process.

I am also writing on an issue which is of the utmost importance to our union. That is, the role that TWU Local 100 members played in the initial search, recovery and clearing operations on Sept. 11, 12, and many days later. As you know, when most people were fleeing the WTC, our members were collecting themselves into work gangs and rushing to the site of the attack.

New York City Transit was reimbursed by FEMA for 2,170 of its employees - our members - for the time they were ordered to work there. We also know that an equal number of our members volunteered their labor. The Federal Department of Transportation has stated that 60 percent of all workers at the WTC following the attacks were members of TWU Local 100.

This construction and general expertise among our members came from the decision by our founder, Mike Quill, to organize city transit workers into an industrial trade union. That means that our members drive trains and buses, but that we also do the heavy construction of track renewal and repair, station rehabilitation and the repair and maintenance of the elevated structure throughout NYC. Our members were not only the most readily available workers, but also the most uniquely qualified to do the job.

Being the first at the WTC site gave us extremely high levels of exposure. Our own employer, New York City Transit, ignorantly following the erroneous dictates of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Christie Whitman, repeatedly told our members that the air was safe to breathe. Our members were not issued any protective equipment for respiratory and other health protections. It was not until a couple of weeks after everyone figured out that the EPA was covering up the crisis did the NYCT agree to our demands for industrial hygiene monitoring.

There is no doubt that NYC Transit workers have not been afforded the amount of respect and recognition to which they are entitled for their heroic work at Ground Zero. One concrete way to correct this deficiency would be to grant our members who are disabled due to their efforts at Ground Zero the same three-quarters disability benefits that other first-responders receive.

The Governor's three-quarter-disability pension proposal must be extended to TWU Local 100 members who are affected in the exact same way as our brothers and sisters in the police, fire and emergency medical services.

We must assume that the Governor is not harboring hard feelings toward our transit heroes in his decision to exclude our members. The WTC crisis must bring the best out of all of us. This is the time to show that fairness and statesmanship.

JOHN SAMUELSEN, Chair, Track Division, Local 100, TWU