By John Catalinotto New York
After the catastrophe that hit 50,000 workers at the World Trade Center Sept. 11, killing perhaps thousands of them, there has been much media repetition of the "need to pull together."
Those working at the two World Trade Center buildings were a cross-section of the U.S. working class. Black, white, Latino, Asian, Arab, immigrant and born here, everyone could be found enjoying the music at the summer lunchtime series in the now non-existent plaza between the buildings.
The enormous infrastructure of the twin towers demanded a full maintenance staff, from electricians to air- conditioning experts, communication technicians, cafeteria staffs, and janitors, along with an enormous clerical staff receiving widely varying salaries.
One particularly diverse group was the staff of the Windows on the World restaurant. They came from Bangladesh, Syria, Iran, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Cuba, Algeria, Ivory Coast. They worked on the top two floors of World Trade Center Number 1.
Not that it was one happy relationship with management. In the week before the tragedy, Port Authority electricians were protesting that their wages were 27 percent lower than the area average. And one of the major employers in the building, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, had just announced a half-hour increase in the workday without a pay increase.
The scenes shown on television of the burned and bloodied people win the sympathy and solidarity of anyone who sees them. For those who moved quickly in barely controlled panic down dark stairwells for dozens of floors, perhaps fighting sprinklers on the way down, then narrowly escaping the collapsing building, such solidarity is well deserved.
For those who were even unluckier, who were trapped by fire or tons of steel and concrete, deep sympathy is normal and just.
The career politicians and corporate media, however, conceal another agenda in their appeals for "pulling together." They demand not so much solidarity as more powers and funds for the military, police and secret services of the U.S.
If pulling together were really their goal, their first objective would be support for the rights of the surviving workers and meeting the needs of the dependents of those who died.
Some of the more fortunate workers undoubtedly already have job benefits and security. All should have it. The benefits included below should be the basic minimum:
* For those who perished in the fire and collapse, a minimum of $100,000 lump-sum payment to dependent survivors, plus whatever Social Security is due.
* All emergency and continuing medical care covered by a special fund set up by the federal government.
* Jobs guaranteed for two years by companies that continue to exist, salaries guaranteed for two years for companies destroyed by the fire, followed by an extended period of unemployment insurance and retraining.
* Relocation expenses for those living far from any new center of work.
In addition, this city should implement a massive hiring of the unemployed to clear and rebuild the area.
At the site of the disaster and at the hospitals around Manhattan, there was a wonderful display of spontaneous solidarity with the victims. That solidarity was not always repeated between boss and worker.
A worker in a building across the street from the twin towers told Workers World she was forced to spend two hours trapped in a cellar to escape the cloud of poisonous smoke and rubble, then fled miles uptown on foot. She didn't appreciate it when her boss asked her to report to a New Jersey location for work the day following this ordeal.
Workers in 2 World Trade Center were evacuated when the other tower was attacked, then were quickly ordered back to their jobs. They were in the elevators when their building was also hit. They were then evacuated a second time. Some didn't get out of the building before it collapsed.