NYC-WTC_000230720

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Postal Union: Officials Downplayed Risk I By Martin C. Evans I STAFF WRITER * fice officials were downplaying the risk in postal facilities. “They have been lying to the workers New York postal union leaders have all along and have endangered workers accused the Postal Service of failing to by lying to them.” said William Smith, j tell workers about the potential of ex­ president of the Metro Area Postal the Postal Service in the New York re- gion, said the agency had not acted more quickly because health officials had as- sirred them no action was necessary. But McGovern said the agency began testing about 100 workers Fri- ed positive for anthrax exposure in the New York City region, McGovern said.' McGovern, said the Postal Service lacks the afc'ility to determine whether i mad. passing through the system is tainted with potentially deadly anthrax, Ig posure to anthrax in the mail. Union, which represents 10,000 clerks, day at the Morgan, Times Square and About 21 million pieces of mail are deliv- : The accusation came one week after drivers and maintenance workers. Rockefeller Center mail centers. Smith ered in New York City each day. I police recovered an anthrax-tainted en-

e “Workers would have been more cau- said workers from the Grand Centra! “Right now, are we checking, inside © ; velope that had passed through sever- - tious had they known there was an­ Station and Radio City mail facilities envelopes? No,” McGovern said. “We do ; al mail handling facilities in Manhat­ thrax in the system,” Smith said. “But also were being tested. not have that technology in place and I tan before being delivered to the Rock­ they didn’t want to tell us that because Technicians from the Centers for don’t know if that technology exists.” o efeller Center office of NBC News an­ that would have slowed down the mail.” chor Tom Brokaw. Representatives from postal unions Disease Control and Prevention mil ar- rive at those postal facilities Saturday, Smith said the postal service has been slow to take basic precautions co H Union officials said long after NBC met with Postal Service management and will determine whether they need like instructing workers on what to do PI H ) and other organizations had taken Friday to address their concerns. to be disinfected, McGovern said. if they encounter suspicious materials. ' steps to protect their workers, post of- Pat McGovern, a spokeswoman for So far, no postal employee has test- or disseminating evacuation plans. 1^ o GJ

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NYC-WTC_000230720