TWU Convention Approves 9/11 Resolution Sponsored by Local 100

Watch the TWU's video recognizing the dedication of transit workers at 9/11 above.

SEPTEMBER 22 -- A full house of nearly 500 Transport Workers Union of America delegates and alternates unanimously approved a Resolution sponsored by TWU Local 100 and read out to the body by Executive Board Member Mario Galvet at the just-ended union convention in Las Vegas. The Resolution commends Local 100's 9/11 Recognition Project for our efforts in setting the record straight on the prominent role played by transit workers in the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. It also commends the Veterans Committee for their efforts on behalf of veterans and commits the Union to continue to advocate for sufficient funds in the WTC Victim's Compensation Fund to provide for all future claims. The full text is below:

Resolution #19

Recognition of the 20th Anniversary of 9/11

Just two days before the start of this 26th Constitutional Convention of our great union, the nation solemnly marked the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 – the horrific terrorist attack that took the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and in a rural field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

But the death and destruction on Sept. 11, 2001, itself, was only the beginning of a sickening trail of casualties among our military servicemen and women, and as well, among the courageous workers, including transit workers, who participated in the rescue and recovery effort at Ground Zero.  

As of this writing, 7,057 American soldiers have been killed in military actions since 9/11 in Iraq and Afghanistan, and thousands more have been grievously injured, including with a high number of traumatic brain injuries.  Incredibly, since then, an epidemic of suicide has swept our armed forces, with 22,261 veterans of the 20 years of war in the Middle East, taking their own lives, as well as an additional 8,000 veterans who served elsewhere in the world.

Then, a few years after 9/11, workers who responded to Ground Zero began getting sick and dying of an array of cancers and lung diseases.  The words of EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman one week after the terror attacks, that “the air is safe to breathe” will forever echo as an example of colossal government failure – and possibly intentional criminal failure – to provide American workers with the information necessary to deal with potential life-threatening dangers at work

Transit workers of course were not immune.  Since the establishment of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, more than 300 transit workers who responded to Ground Zero have received monetary settlements for verifiable illnesses.  Of that number more two dozen have died of their 911 related diseases.

Add in the emotional toll on the families of the lost and sickened, the added stress of our air crews working in a sector that was the weapon of choice on 9/11, as well as the overall psychological toll on our nation, and we all remain confronted with the horror of that day, despite 20 years having passed.

To add insult to injury, the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum continues to omit the narrative of the contributions of transit workers in the aftermath of the attacks.  This is the story of 3,000 transit workers who were there from the first hours of the attack, clearing debris with heavy rigs so that FDNY and NYPD could access the scene; putting up lighting for responders; ferrying police, firefighters, and health care personnel to and from Ground Zero; accessing communications infrastructure; cutting iron and steel; pumping out and draining the subway tunnels, and cleaning the mass of debris in subway stations directly affected by the attacks.  

NOW THEREFORE BE IT

RESOLVED, that the delegates to the 26th Constitutional Convention of the Transport Workers Union of America, commend the TWU Local 100 9/11  Recognition Project for its efforts to set the record straight on the heroic efforts of thousands of New York City Transit Workers at Ground Zero, and that the story of these workers be included in the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum, AND BE IF FURTHER
RESOLVED, that this Convention commends the efforts of the TWU International Veterans Committee for its work in providing TWU veterans with access to information for post military benefits, and for access to crisis intervention resources, and be if further
RESOLVED, that our union work with the labor movement to ensure that the Victims Compensation Fund is never allowed to sunset for years to come, AND BE IT FINALLY
RESOLVED, that the delegates to this Convention be asked to stand in a moment of silence to remember those we have lost to 9/11, and the families left behind, across the past two decades.