|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
                  Get to know your Business Agent today!  Find out how the union makes a difference on the job. |
Newsline: October 2007 Now’s the Time to Support Our Heroes
“We must never forget the workers who performed here with a dedication and sacrifice that was well beyond the call of duty,” said President Gregory Floyd. “Labor unions will make sure of that.” Floyd and several members of the executive board were on hand with a contingent of Local 237 members in solidarity with the New York State AFL-CIO, the New York City Central Labor Council and the Building and Construction Trades Council, who co-sponsored the event in place of the traditional Labor Day parade. 
Accepting Local 237 T-shirts from Gregory Floyd are, from left, City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., Sen. Malcolm Smith, City Councilman Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., and John C. Liu.More than 600 union members were killed on 9/11, according to an AFL-CIO report, and thousands more worked on or near Ground Zero during the nine-month clean-up process. The asthma rate for rescue and recovery workers at Ground Zero is 12 times higher than expected for adults, according to a recent study by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, reported in The New York Times. The rally stage was set with the specter of the condemned Deutsche Bank building in the background, where two firefighters died recently while fighting a mysterious fire, and two more were injured investigating the contaminated building days later. Among the elected officials and labor leaders who addressed the rally were U.S. Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan/-Queens); Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn); and Vito Fossella (R-Staten Island), who co-sponsored a health bill that would provide free medical monitoring and treatment to 9/11 workers, and reopen the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, which was closed Dec. 22, 2003. “Six years is long enough towait for health care,” saidMaloney, repeating a slogan imprinted on red T-shirts and posters throughout the crowd. Maloney noted that the proposed bill also expands health care to students and residentswhowere near ground zero in the aftermath of the disaster. “We are the wealthiest nation on earth. It’s the least we can do.” Nadler recalled the unquestioning service that workers rendered during “a critical time for our country,” adding, “We must offer our heroes concrete support in a time of need.” Echoing Nadler, Fossella said, “We have a solemn responsibility to the unsung heroes of 9/11.” Ed Ott, executive director of the New York City Central Labor Council, introduced the council’s president, Gary LaBarbera, who vowed, “Our voice will not be silenced.” The Chorus of Protest Grows Sure enough, the chorus grew stronger as speaker after speaker followed, including Denis Hughes, president of New York State AFL-CIO; Rep. Charles Rangel; Sen. Hillary Clinton; Ed Molloy, president of the Building and Trades Council; Bill Thompson, New York City Comptroller; and Christine Quinn, New York City Council Speaker, to name a few. Although no one from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration was at the rally, his deputy, Edward Skyler, testified in support of the 9/11 health bill before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in Washington, as reported in The New York Times. Gov. Eliot Spitzer also strongly supported passage of the bill, called the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. The bill is named for a New York City police officer who died at age 34 of a respiratory disease he appeared to have contracted after helping with rescue operations at Ground Zero. |
|
|
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Amid continued reports of rising illnesses among first responders exposed to toxic elements following the World Trade Center attacks, major labor organizations held a Labor Day Rally on Sept. 8 near Ground Zero just days before the sixth year anniversary of the disaster.
