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Workers' Stories: Remembering and Rebuilding
Among the thousands directly affected by the attacks were members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) who worked at or near the World Trade Center and Pentagon as janitors, porters, security guards, public employees, building engineers, emergency medical technicians, and firefighters.
Sixty-two members died. Roko Camaj, a 60-year-old Albanian immigrant from Yugoslavia who was cleaning windows at the World Trade Center on the day of the attacks, often told his children that working up so high he felt he could touch the sky. Esmerlin Salcedo, a 36-year-old World Trade Center security officer from the Dominican Republic and a father of four, rushed back into the WTC to save others and didn't make it out himself.
Of the members who survived, 6,000 lost their jobs and faced uncertain financial futures for months.
In the days and weeks that followed the tragedy, several recounted their stories -- how they escaped the buildings, how they helped others to safety, and how they struggle with grief, emotional difficulties, and financial hardship.
Sixty-two members died. Roko Camaj, a 60-year-old Albanian immigrant from Yugoslavia who was cleaning windows at the World Trade Center on the day of the attacks, often told his children that working up so high he felt he could touch the sky. Esmerlin Salcedo, a 36-year-old World Trade Center security officer from the Dominican Republic and a father of four, rushed back into the WTC to save others and didn't make it out himself.
Of the members who survived, 6,000 lost their jobs and faced uncertain financial futures for months.
In the days and weeks that followed the tragedy, several recounted their stories -- how they escaped the buildings, how they helped others to safety, and how they struggle with grief, emotional difficulties, and financial hardship.
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Daria Coard was at work in Building 1 of the World Trade Center when the first plane hit. She was in an elevator with 30 other people on the 88th floor. Only nine passengers managed to exit the elevator before it fell down the shaft. Daria does not know if the elevator...[more]
Arturo Griffith was in a freight elevator when the building was attacked. The elevator dropped to B1 (the basement level), fell below the landing. He was trapped in the elevator beneath debris and unconscious. He remembers seeing a beam of light. He called out. The...[more]
Analdo Lopez was in Building 2 when the attack occurred. He directed people to leave, helping them to avoid the falling debris on the plaza. He saw seven people hit the ground after they jumped to escape the intense heat of the fire. 'They broke into a million...[more]
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José Santos was raking the leaves in front of his Woodhaven home when his neighbor rushed outside to tell him that a plane hit the World Trade Center. José, who worked as a starter in the building, rushed into his home. He turned on the television, then picked up the...[more]
'I heard a big thump – like a construction grate hitting the ground,' said Gabriel Torres, a 29-year-old security person at the World Trade Center. 'All of the sudden, people were running all over. They told us a plane hit one of the towers.' Gabriel was helping...[more]
In the case of history, there are times of world peace then political warfare. We are frozen in time, in one of the darkest hours. Folks listening to the news, awe-struck Never realizing That a thing of this magnitude can happen. For all...[more]
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