The effects of Sept. 11 will remain forever in the minds and hearts of Americans. But for many New Yorkers, the disaster continues to pose daily physical and psychological challenges as well. No one knows this better than the people who live and work in the community near Ground Zero--including members of the Professional Staff Congress/AFT who work at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Last September, the 17,000-student institution lost a large classroom building--Fiterman Hall--located next to the World Trade Center.

The PSC received many inquiries from members who were worried about their health in the days following the terrorist attacks. A full year later, questions remain about the long-term effects of exposures to toxins in the aftermath of the incident.

The PSC is concerned about elevated lead levels in the air-handling units and the deadly mix of asbestos, dioxin and mold, says Joan Greenbaum, a health and safety officer for the union. PSC has yet to be given an exact date for toxic waste clean-up, Greenbaum adds.

A more visible problem is overcrowded classrooms. When the community college's 17,000 students returned to campus last month, they were crammed into the main campus building, which was designed to hold only 8,000 students. "The air is terrible," says Jane Young, president of the PSC chapter at BMCC. "Many of the [temporary] classrooms don't have windows. Every day, there are escalators that don't work. We have lots of quality-of-life issues."

The administration brought in portable classrooms, but they were located too close to the trucks and barges used during the clean-up of the site; the noise and dust kept students from using them, notes Greenbaum.

Fiterman Hall will be razed and rebuilt, but it may take three to five years before the new building is completed. In the meantime, the BMCC administration is looking for rental space in the area to ease overcrowding.

Last year the PSC, with the cooperation of the college administration, asked the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to examine the extent of the physical and mental health problems of college staff following Sept 11. NIOSH surveyed the faculty and professional, clerical, maintenance and security employees at the college. The agency's report is pending.

In June, NIOSH released results of a similar survey of faculty and staff conducted at Stuyvesant High School, located several blocks from BMCC. A significant number of Stuyvesant staff showed symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder syndrome as well as other physical symptoms.

The findings are important to the PSC because "BMCC has used Stuyvesant as a barometer," Greenbaum says. The PSC has been following the lead of the high school's parent association and its efforts because the BMCC has all of the same health and safety issues as the school, she adds.

The PSC also has been active in the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), a coalition of unions, environmental activists and city residents. Earlier this year, NYCOSH experts testified on behalf of its members about the impact of the attacks on public health at hearings held by the City Council, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The successful effort to hold hearings on the community health and safety issues that resulted from the Sept. 11 attacks was a collaboration between labor and city residents, notes Greenbaum. The parties came together because "the residents were not getting anywhere by themselves, and neither was labor," she says.  .  [Barbara McKenna / AFT On Campus]

[October 18, 2002]