Public Employee Press

Members benefits and services restored as union HQ faces long recovery
Building damage is severe

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Walloped by Hurricane Sandy, DC 37's headquarters in the downtown Manhattan flood zone will remain closed for months as the union carries out major repairs and upgrades of the building's infrastructure.

"This damage is worse than after 9/11," said DC 37 Associate Director Oliver Gray. The collapse of the World Trade Center after the terrorist attack 11 years ago also uprooted the union from its 10-story building at 125 Barclay St., which was closed for about six months until it was safe for union members and staff. The fundamental difference, Gray said, is that this time the building was flooded with seawater, which has corroded utilities and ruined electrical and telephone wiring and damaged elevators, floors, ceilings and walls. One elevator was actually displaced by the powerful flooding.

In 2001, the damage was principally caused by debris from the Twin Towers and freshwater flooding from broken water mains, and it was much less severe. Both times, the union's basement print shop was destroyed.

The recovery after 9/11 involved cleanup and repairs, not replacing the infrastructure, which is required now. Gray said it was too early to put a price tag on the cost of getting the building up and running again, but he offered a back-of-envelope estimate of up to $10 million. The print shop alone could cost $3 million.

Waves smash union doors

Insurance and government assistance largely covered the 9/11 repairs. This time around, flood insurance wasn't available from a private insurer because the building is in a flood zone. The insurance provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be insufficient, and the union is exploring additional options for government assistance.

In the downtown flood zone, subways and buildings were flooded and water in many streets was several feet deep. DC 37 headquarters is near the Hudson River, which sent powerful waves crashing through the glass doors on the Murray Street side of the building. Parked outside the building, the cars of Gray and the DC 37 Executive Department were submerged. Water inundated the basement, trashing the cafeteria, mailroom, print shop and utilities, and rose halfway up the curtains behind the stage in the main meeting room on the first floor, ruining the floor and the piano on the stage.

The flooding wiped out the electrical power system and destroyed the four transformers in the basement, which will cost up to $1 million to replace. In the weeks after the storm, the dedicated maintenance crew - which stayed on the job around the clock for cleanup in the days after Sandy - provided electricity to the lower level of the building using a generator affectionately called Big Bertha, powered by 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel contributed by a Connecticut Teamsters local. Recently, the union acquired a second generator in order to power the entire building.

The Verizon phone company may need to install state-of-the-art fiber-optic wiring throughout the building to restore telephone service. Many walls and floors must be replaced, adding to the headaches of the maintenance workers, Building Manager Ralph Pepe and Assistant Building Manager Michael Corbin.

For weeks after the superstorm, the lack of full electrical power made it impossible to run the mainframe computers, temporarily crippling the DC 37 Health and Security Plan. The computer system is now partially operating after the union declared an emergency and paid a substantial sum to have a backup system kick in. But it will probably take three to six months for the computer system to be fully operational.

"I had hoped we'd return to the building sooner," Roberts said. "But as I accompanied our maintenance staff on an inspection, it was immediately clear that we have a giant undertaking ahead of us."