9/11 Workers and Lower Manhattan Community Fight Back!
On 9/11 thousands of workers were sent to work and clean up the disaster area down at Ground Zero. The work was primarly done by many laborers at Local 79, Local 78, and other laborers who were either undocumented or not with any particular Trade Union. These workers were exposed to toxic dusts and a unhealthy enviroement which the Federal government declared to be safe A number of TWU Local 100 members were affected as well, and of course members of the community which were blanketed by the toxic dusts that came from the rubble of the World Trade Center towers. These workers and people were immediately affected with numerous health problems which stretch from new cases of asthma, bronchitis, and other various lung conditions, to irregular menstruation and rashes. It has finally taken some 5 years for this to be exposed in the National media on 60 mintues tonight; however workers have been fighting against the fact the government on all levels have forgotten them. The government in this issue completely turned its back on workers and people of low income who could not afford to treat themselves from their own pocket.
They also knowingly hired undocumented workers to clean up the rubble of 9/11. These are people most affected by this case because they have no way of paying for their health problems and if they are unable to work, lose their whole livelyhood. The government's negligence and utter hypocricy reveals how apathetic and unconcerned this government can be. This nation declared those who participated in the clean up effort as heroes, and in the same breath handed them paper masks to deal with the toxic fallout. When it was obvious that these people needed much better equipment than paper masks and hard masks.
Now workers and communities are stepping forward. On September 6th, there was a relatively sizeable protest on a work day down at the site of the World Trade Center organized by NMASS and Beyond 9/11. The rally was attended by various workers organizations, such as CSWA and TWU Local 100, community groups, and other laborers. Local 79 and Local 78 have also put significant pressure on the State government to recognize the need to provide for workers affected on 9/11. So far this fight is being won by laborers. The state government was forced to pass legislation that gives workers and volunteers some health compensation for their work at the WTC. Check out this blog for more comprehensive news on the legislation from this Trade Unionist Blog. And of course the 60 Minute spot would have never aired where it not for the tireless effort of workers coming forward and demanding the government recognize what had happened.
They also knowingly hired undocumented workers to clean up the rubble of 9/11. These are people most affected by this case because they have no way of paying for their health problems and if they are unable to work, lose their whole livelyhood. The government's negligence and utter hypocricy reveals how apathetic and unconcerned this government can be. This nation declared those who participated in the clean up effort as heroes, and in the same breath handed them paper masks to deal with the toxic fallout. When it was obvious that these people needed much better equipment than paper masks and hard masks.
Now workers and communities are stepping forward. On September 6th, there was a relatively sizeable protest on a work day down at the site of the World Trade Center organized by NMASS and Beyond 9/11. The rally was attended by various workers organizations, such as CSWA and TWU Local 100, community groups, and other laborers. Local 79 and Local 78 have also put significant pressure on the State government to recognize the need to provide for workers affected on 9/11. So far this fight is being won by laborers. The state government was forced to pass legislation that gives workers and volunteers some health compensation for their work at the WTC. Check out this blog for more comprehensive news on the legislation from this Trade Unionist Blog. And of course the 60 Minute spot would have never aired where it not for the tireless effort of workers coming forward and demanding the government recognize what had happened.
Good post. Glad to see you back after the brief hiatus (from posting here at least), and with a shiny new banner graphic.
Posted by
Nelson H. |
7:27 AM
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Posted by
ShineThePath |
8:03 PM
From recent experience, I'd actually say that the best thing to do is to get rid of Blogger's default template styles, and go with one of Thur's Templates.
I'll also say that HTML and CSS are a pain in the behind to edit and master, but there's an oddly therapeutic aspect to doing some hand-coded improvements to your template.
Posted by
Modern Pitung |
8:56 PM
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