Members still mourn, but try to move forward

Members still mourn, but try to move forward
‘Everything is different’ since 9/11

By DEBORAH A. MILES
A year after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, some PEF members still grieve. Others say they go through the motions of their daily routines, but their lives remain haunted by the tragedy. And many simply find it too difficult to discuss.

Members who worked in Tower 2 for the state Taxation and Finance Department lost 31 members. Many repeat one statement: “Everything is different.”

“There’s a lot of stress coming at you from a lot of different places,” said Helene Granka Steinberg, a sales tax auditor. “It’s too much sometimes. It’s really too much to think about all this.”

Steinberg says little things other people take for granted have made an impact on her life. She misses familiar and comforting items such as the plants and pictures that were on her desk for years, now lost forever. Security is heightened everywhere. On the train ride home, she now encounters bomb-sniffing dogs used to search bags and packages. She shudders when a plane flies directly over her home. Mostly, she misses the people with whom she worked.

Learning to cope
“I felt a need to do something positive, so I began collecting newspaper articles, anything and everything about the people we lost,” Steinberg said.

“It’s a scrapbook about my co-workers. At first, people in the office couldn’t understand why I was saving every clip. Now, it’s referred to as “our book” and it helps us remember and cope. But I don’t think there ever will be real closure.”

Another change Steinberg noticed is that people are more aware of current events. Talk around the water cooler has taken a serious turn. Idle gossip has been replaced with the latest news about the war in Afghanistan.

Narrow escape
“We don’t know what the future holds for us,” said Sangeeta Bhowmick, a senior transportation analyst at the state Department of Transportation. Bhowmick had worked on the 82nd floor of Tower 1, where three co-workers perished.

“I was across the street,” she said. “We were just evacuated from Tower 1 when the second plane hit Tower 2. I could feel intense heat and we all ran. I am very, very lucky to be alive.”

Still, Bhowmick says, “there have been some good changes. I’m living more in the present, experiencing the full extent of life. New Yorkers are helping each other more. I’m more sympathetic and patient with people.
“We all need to pray for the families of the victims. They are still struggling because life has changed so much,” Bhowmick added.

Mixed emotions remain
“We’re angry at what happened,” said PEF steward Gwendolyn Leverett, a tax auditor. “We’re angry at the people who did this. We always had a lot of camaraderie and a happy working environment. We teased and joked with one other. They were like family members and now they are gone from our lives.”

“We’re still grieving,” said Joyce DeSantis, a PEF steward and tax auditor. “It takes time to mourn and I don’t think we should be ashamed to show our feelings. Many of us who survived or were lucky enough to be out of the building that day still need group or individual counseling.”

After the attack, according to DeSantis, some people worked in Brooklyn or Queens, enduring commutes of two to three hours each way.

“For us, it was wonderful because we relocated uptown. We were able to share in the healing process,” she said.

“It’s been a difficult year,” said Ralph Liporace, a tax conferee mediator. “It’s 10 months later and bodies are still being identified. We attend one memorial after another. We appreciate life a lot more and realize just how fragile it is.

“It was a beautiful area and one day later it was worse than a war zone. You can never get over what happened.”

The Communicator
September 2002
The Official Online Edition of
The New York State Public Employees Federation

Inside This Issue:
Features
PEF backs Pataki re-election bid
PEF Board votes to back candidates in ’02 races
PEF joins fight against soaring Rx costs
Early retirement windows opening
Q&A on 25/55, ERI
9/11; One Year Later:
‘Everything is different’ since 9/11
PEF fights for counseling
Victims’ families grateful for PEF’s help
Contributions of PEF activists missed
PEF to dedicate memorial

Departments
President's Message: Endorsements and Loyalty
You Said It: Member's letters this month
Member Mobilization: 8 steps to success
Legislative Action: Retirement, whistleblower laws
Nurses' Station: Help make new future for nursing
Retirees In Action: Lucky to get 1% COLA
PEF Membership Benefits Program & Travel Corp

Union Matters
2002 Convention Preview
PEF researcher’s discovery offers hope
Members show interest in PS&T negotiations
Division 236 at Parole fully mobilized
Members at Labor Dept. win back rights
PEF fights big chemo bills
PEF vets keep wagering safe bet
PEF wins OT pay
Highlights of PEF Exec Board’s meeting
Member’s kids wins scholarships
Support true charities, job security
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OTDA members return to Manhattan
PEF fights for counseling

By DEBORAH A. MILES
Minutes before the hijacked plane hit Tower 2, PEF Division 192 Council Leader Marion Fox was preparing to go to the World Trade Center to do some banking.

“Our office was just across the street from the World Trade Center on Cortland Avenue,” said Fox, a disability analyst 2 who works for the state Office of Temporary Disability Assistance (OTDA). “Something was telling me to stay put. Then we heard the explosion. We all got out that morning. No one from our agency was hurt or lost.”

Afterward, OTDA’s 400 PEF members and other employees were relocated to the agency’s offices in Queens and Brooklyn. And this summer, the majority moved back to the Cortland Avenue building.

“It was difficult for a lot of people to return,” Fox said. “We were too close to it. The beautiful towers are gone. The area is just not the same. Going back is not the same. And to top it off, we had to fight management to get counseling.
“PEF really went to bat at the labor-management meetings,” she added. “When we were talking with management, they looked at us as if we had a third eye.”

Through the efforts of PEF and talking with representatives from the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations, union members at the Cortland Avenue location are receiving counseling through a program called Project Liberty.
It is funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and will be available to members through the end of September.

“Members feel better knowing counseling is now available,” Fox said.

PEF also addressed other concerns at the Cortland Avenue office, including arranging for an independent air-quality test after the building was renovated.

“Management was concerned about air quality too, so the union got them to commit to air-quality testing on a quarterly basis,” Fox said.

PEF was also instrumental in helping employees file workers’ compensation claims.

“Through PEF’s Navigator training, I was able to encourage and assist co-workers with the right paperwork. Someone may have some recurrence of anxiety two years from now,” Fox said.

“We don’t know what delayed reactions people may encounter in the future,” she added. “You just can’t describe the magnitude of what really happened that morning and when it will hit some people. I’m hoping the counseling and the anniversary memorials will bring some closure.”