|
HOGANSBURG, N.Y.
-- Some of them were injured, others have been diagnosed with
emphysema and nearly all complain of respiratory ailments.
Yet, some 25
Mohawk ironworkers who helped dismantle the remains of the World
Trade Center following the deadly terrorist attacks two years ago
won't receive any assistance from the Sept. 11 Victims Compensation
Fund because they failed to file claims.
The workers
maintain they were never told they qualified.
"I got
nothing, no faxes or mail or phone calls from the contractor at
Ground Zero telling me that my guys could apply," Michael D.
Swamp, the workers' union business manager, told the Watertown Daily
Times. "I think we all thought that the fund was just for people
who lost family members."
The Mohawk workers
spent between two weeks and 5 months at Ground Zero. Besides
suffering from breathing problems since then, many have struggled
with psychological trauma triggered by working next to smoldering
bodies. One worker has even lost his job because for the past 2 years
he's been unable to hold a blow torch after developing a fear of
flames.
"People kept
saying "You're safe, you're safe,' but I knew we weren't,"
said Brad J. Bonaparte, a Mohawk ironworker who was operated on after
his back was punctured by a scrap of steel when he fell from a pile
of debris.
"I don't feel
like a victim," he told the newspaper in Friday's editions.
"But I really worry about all the asbestos smoke I swallowed and
what will happen to me in 20 years."
To date, more than
4,000 claims for personal injury have been filed by Ground Zero
workers, and the compensation fund has issued awards for 424 claims.
Those payouts range from $500 to $7.9 million.
Many of the Mohawk
ironworkers, whose fathers and relatives helped build the towers more
than thirty years ago, said they would have applied for compensation
if they had known they qualified.
But, for now at
least, it appears they're out of luck, since no money from the fund
has been set aside for future medical expenses stemming from work
done at Ground Zero.
"No one has
been approved post-Dec. 22. There has been no extension of the
deadline," Charles S. Miller, a spokesman for the Department of
Justice, which is managing the compensation fund, said. "The
rules were set by Congress and presently there is no wiggle
room."
Copyright ©
2004, The Associated Press
NOTE: In
accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a
prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research
and educational purposes only. |
