The Verizon Building at 140 West Street was immediately adjacent to the Twin Towers and 7 World Trade Center (WTC), which collapsed in the aftermath of the September 2001 terrorist attacks.
Toxic debris from the Towers collapses fell onto the Verizon rooftops, ledges, inside windows and HVAC systems and tore gaping holes in the exterior of the building, just to begin with. For months, underground fires also raged at the WTC site, spewing highly dangerous airborne toxins.
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, thousands of Verizon employees and contractors responded and worked to restore communications at the earliest possible moment.
Thousands of you worked at or from 375 Pearl Street, just a short walk from the terrorist attack site.
Others simply worked in the field in Lower Manhattan as part of a Telephone Company army, to restore services.
Skilled professionals from across the Company’s footprint worked on the restoration of 140 West Street.
The bottom line is, if you were present in Lower Manhattan in the nine months after the 9/11 attacks, please take action and register with the federal 9/11 funds.
Union Crews Working Round the Clock:
In 2016, Mary Hogan, an Association of BellTel Retirees member and union retiree, described in a video interview on the BellTel YouTube channel, the essential work her team conducted, working round the clock.
“At West Street, we lost a couple floors of the building, so they were really reliant on the expertise of the techs because we knew where the cables were,” she said. “We were in the World Trade Center that day. Our gangs actually met there at Two World Trade.”
Ms. Hogan and her colleagues were assigned to New York’s One Police Plaza, where city, state, and federal leaders were all headquartered and making critical decisions.
They worked day and night for weeks, often not even returning home after long shifts to get the job done.
These are the very types of first responders and members of the Verizon workforce for whom 9/11 federal health and compensation protections was created to serve as a safety net for.
Those two distinct programs are: The World Trade Center Health Program and the Victim Compensation Fund.
Now, nearly 21 years after the attack, while 80% of the first responder community – made of up police, firefighters and other uniformed personnel have registered to qualify for the critical health protections, only about eight (8%) percent of civilians exposed have enrolled.
We owe it to our Verizon friends, colleagues, and their families to check up on one another to make sure, if you know someone who was there, insist they register without delay – before they become seriously ill or die.
If you were there, from September 11, 2001 to May 31, 2002, for Verizon, AT&T, Empire City Subway, or a contractor, take action. Statistics prove that those who were there have a 60% higher rate of certain diseases, including 68 identified cancers.
NYPD Detective James Zadroga died at 34 from the exposure he faced during the weeks he worked during the cleanup. His autopsy revealed that his organs had the PH levels equivalent to the chemical Drano.
Take action and protect yourself.
This article was first published in the Fall 2022 BellTel Newsletter.
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