Public Employee Press

Safety victory for labor coalition at 90 Church Street

An aggressive two-year campaign by a coalition of city, state and federal workers at 90 Church St. — directly across from Ground Zero — scored a major health and safety victory when management agreed to add a second set of interior windows throughout the building.

The New York City Housing Authority and the United States Postal Service recently notified the 90 Church Street Labor Coalition that both agencies would join the state agencies in doubling windows on all 15 floors of the building. The interior windows are needed to reinforce the building’s old leaky windows to help shield workers from the effects of the massive 9/11-related demolition projects and new construction that have already begun around Ground Zero and will continue for more than a decade.

“This is an important victory in the struggle for members’ safety,” said Gary Goff, 2nd vice president of Electronic Data Processing Personnel Local 2627. “When the towers fell, every one of the thousands of computers that were pulverized released seven pounds of lead into the environment. Fluorescent light bulbs added dangerous amounts of mercury.”

The coalition included Local 2627, which has 75 members working in the building, Amalgamated Professional Employees Local 154, SSEU Local 371, Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375 and Accountants, Statisticians and Actuaries Local 1407. The Organization of Staff Analysts, CWA Local 1180 and Teamsters Local 237 played an active role in the alliance, and members of Housing Authority Clerical Employees Local 957 bolstered the group’s demonstrations.

The campaign included outreach to the press, a petition drive that lasted several months and collected more than 1,300 signatures from workers in the building, lunchtime rallies and labor-management meetings. The labor coalition experienced its first victory in 2005 when the building owner, Boston Properties, agreed to increase air testing within the building from two times a year to quarterly and to test more floors.

Joshua Barnett, Civil Service Chair of Local 375, emphasized the importance of unions coming together to fight for a common cause. “With cutbacks and increasing pressure on working people, we need more of this kind of unity,” said Barnett, whose local has 200 members working in the building.

“Coalition members worked together, combining resources, even those who already had double windows, always keeping their eyes on the prize — protecting all the workers in the building.”