Ground Zero clean-up workers, Lower Manhattan residents and other workers devastated by the toxic fallout of 9/11 speak out at Ground Zero

For Immediate Release
Contact: Karah Newton (212) 358-0295

WHAT: Rally and Press Conference where hundreds of Ground Zero clean-up workers, Lower East Side and Chinatown residents will denounce the governments shameful misconduct and neglect. They will demand that Governor Pataki provide reparations for the worsening health and economic crises they still suffer arising out of the World Trade Center disaster.

WHEN: Wednesday, September 6, 2006, at 12 noon

WHERE: Ground Zero, Corner of Liberty St. & Church St.

WHO: The Beyond Ground Zero Network will rally together low-income, immigrant Ground Zero clean-up workers, residents and workers from the Lower East Side and Chinatown still suffering from the crippling effects of the WTC disaster. Invited to join them are elected officials including Congress Member Jerrold Nadler, State Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

WHY: Five years after the World Trade Center disaster, thousands of low-income and immigrant Ground Zero workers, Lower Manhattan residents and other workers hurt by 9/11 are experiencing an alarming acceleration of worsening health problems due to their exposure to the toxic air of 9/11.

The governments response has been unconscionable.

Immediately after the disaster, the government lied to the people about the safety of the air, and still refuses to fund a specialized long-term medical treatment and study program for 9/11-affected workers and residents.

Furthermore, the state government under Patakis leadership did not provide workers with the federal funding specifically allocated to prioritize and expedite 9/11 Workers Compensation claims.

Nearly all of the 9/11 Workers Comp claims have been controverted or closed, and Pataki tried to give back $125 million in unused federal funds.

Governor Patakis recent signing of a new law to allow more Ground Zero workers apply for Workers Compensation does nothing to address a failed Workers Compensation system that delays, denies and slashes workers monetary benefits and medical treatment, and drives many families into destitution.

BEYOND GROUND ZERO

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund · Chinese Staff and Workers Association · Commission on the Publics Health System · National Mobilization Against Sweatshops · Urban Justice Center