------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Nov. 1, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
NEAR GROUND ZERO: WORKERS WALK OUT OVER AIR QUALITY By Mary Owen New York Workers' frustrations about toxic air near ground zero flared up here on Oct. 12. Management at the city's Administration for Children's Services refused to let a union delegation inside its lower Manhattan building to test the air after workers complained of stinging eyes and sore throats. Scores of city employees, mainly women of color, then left their desks and poured into the street outside to meet with their union leaders-a heroic act only four blocks east of the highly militarized World Trade Center area. All this happened while reporters had gathered for a union- called news conference about the agency's refusal to get to the bottom of air-quality problems. So the cameras were rolling as the workers filled the street for the union meeting. Of the 3,000 workers in the building, most are members of DC 37 AFSCME, the city's largest public employee union. About 1,000 belong to DC 37's Social Service Employees Union Local 371, which has fought many battles for members' rights at ACS. Since Sept. 11, the city has been opening buildings around the ground zero area and calling municipal employees back to work. But the steadily burning fire at the World Trade Center site, along with dust stirred up by the recovery work, has created foul-smelling, smoky air that permeates lower Manhattan. According to the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, air testing by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety & Health Administration has generally found low or no levels of toxic contaminants, including asbestos, although some results have been higher. But experts at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine say that while the smoke and dust should not cause long-term harm to healthy individuals, it could worsen the health of those with chronic heart and lung conditions, such as asthma. Air quality problems at ACS came to a head after the building's windows were left open over a three-day weekend in October. Workers came back to find their office air unbearable and started calling the union for help. Local 371 hired an independent environmental expert to take air samples to see if the air was toxic. At first ACS agreed to the testing, but reneged on the agreement right before the tests were to start. So the morning of Oct. 12, leaders of Local 371, DC 37 and several other locals that have members at ACS held the news conference in front of the building to expose the agency's actions. The workers came out to join them in the street after their union leaders were barred from going in alone, without the testing expert, to meet with ACS representatives. This was a violation of both labor law and a mayoral executive order. After a spirited union meeting that blocked traffic for about half an hour, it was agreed that a union volunteer would wear personal sampling equipment into the building to get an air sample for analysis. The meeting adjourned and the workers began to return to the job, only to find management had locked the doors, making them sign in to reenter the building-a prelude to possible retribution that the unions will surely fight. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
