Local 375 member Ron Vega was one of 88 registered city engineers who brought in the $1 billion cleanup job at Ground Zero ahead of schedule and without a single work-related fatality.

The crew from the Dept. of Design and Construction ran the day-to-day demolition at the 16-acre site for nine months. They supervised the four contractors who removed the remains of the World Trade Center—1.5 million tons of twisted steel and shattered concrete.

"DDC union workers had a constant presence at Ground Zero," Mr. Vega said. "We went far beyond the call of duty." As a union activist, Mr. Vega played an important role in Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375's successful fight to stop former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani from privatizing the construction management duties. The Bechtel Group, a construction industry giant, was in line to get the $27.5 million contract, but federal experts and the City

Council backed the public employees in Local 375. Mr. Vega monitored the construction workers, verified their personnel records and made sure that their working conditions were safe. All along, he knew he was working in a giant gravesite, where nearly 3,000 people perished.

"I would cross myself all the time," Mr. Vega said. "We were walking among the dead and I would hear them cry out. Because we were monitoring the excavation closely, we were often the first ones to see the bodies and stop the work so they could be removed."

— G.N.H.