THE CHIEF-LEADER

For ILL WTC Workers
Council Urges Feds To Okay 9/11 Aid

Feb 22, 2008

By ARI PAUL

The City Council unanimously passed a resolution Feb. 13 urging Congress to approve the James Zadroga Act, which would secure permanent Federal funding for medical monitoring and treatment for workers and residents suffering from 9/11-related illnesses and injuries.

Union leaders joined Council Civil Service and Labor Committee Chairman Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. on the steps of City Hall before his committee approved the measure, which is named for a Detective who died from illnesses many believed to be connected to his extended hours working at Ground Zero.

'A National Tragedy'

"This sends a positive message up to Washington that 9/11 is not just a city tragedy," Mr. Addabbo said. "It should be recognized as it is as a national tragedy."

The leaders of various uniformed unions thanked the New York congressional delegation for introducing the bill during a press conference, but castigated the rest of Congress for taking seven years to make progress establishing permanent funding for rescuers suffering from the work at Ground Zero.

"They spend enough money trying to rebuild the World Trade Center site and then they turn around and consider victims of that 9/11 tragic day as a special interest," said Uniformed Fire Officers Association President John J. McDonnell. "We take care of our veterans because they responded to national emergencies. We should be taking care of our first-responders who most definitely responded to a national emergency."

'City Won't Help'

Local 3621 of District Council 37 President Tom Eppinger, who represents Emergency Medical Service officers, said he believed that the Zadroga Act would allow the Federal government to do what the city was not able or willing to do. He spoke of EMS Lieut. Brian Ellicott, who worked nearly 100 hours at Ground Zero and died in November from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

"The city will give him no benefits because they refuse to acknowledge his death, and now his family is left to pick up the pieces," he said. "I promised Brian as he was dying that I would use his name, his face, to be one of the people that we will never forget, because his dedication, his commitment and his patriotism killed him, and it is unacceptable."

Workers and residents were exposed to toxins such as benzene and asbestos in addition to pulverized concrete and particles of human remains. In addition, 12.4 percent of 9/11 responders have post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and 9/11 workers are more likely to develop asthma.

Also on hand before the vote to show their support were Central Labor Council Executive Director Ed Ott, DC 37 Local 2507 President Patrick J. Bahnken, and Communications Workers Association Local 1180 Vice President William Henning, as well as representatives of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, the Uniformed Firefighters Association, Community Board 1 and the office of Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a sponsor of the bill.

Seek Amendment

While all the uniformed Fire Department unions supported the resolution, Local 3621 had objected to a measure that would keep all firefighters and EMS responders within the department monitoring and treatment program. Mr. Eppinger has asked that the bill be amended to give them the freedom to go outside the department program, as NYPD employees can. Local 2507, the UFA and the UFOA support the Zadroga Act as it is currently written.

During the roll call vote in the Civil Service and Labor Committee, Council Member Alan Gerson, who represents lower Manhattan, recalled Local 3621's testimony against keeping its members in the in-house program.

"That is an issue which can be resolved as the bill goes forward," he said. Local 2507 supported keeping its members in the program, arguing that it was necessary to keep accurate and sufficient data for ongoing medical research. Local 3621 believes that the research can go on even if its members are treated outside the FDNY.

"Way too little is done; we're doing the bare minimum," Mr. Gerson said of the medical research. "That's not adequate given that this is an unprecedented mixture of toxins. We should be deploying our best scientific minds to understand the impact of the explosion. This is needed by those exposed, and of course will advance medical science generally."