Search News
For the Media
For media inquiries, call CWA Communications at 202-434-1168 or email comms@cwa-union.org. To read about CWA Members, Leadership or Industries, visit our About page.
Working Around the Clock To Keep America Connected
From the very first minutes of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, CWA members have been on the front lines, working to keep open the nation’s lines of communication, then rebuilding a system devastated by fire, flooding and debris.
As the horrifying situation unfolded in New York on the morning of Sept. 11, Verizon operators, members of CWA Local 1104 (formerly of Local 1112), began receiving hundreds of emergency calls from people in the World Trade Center who were trying to alert emergency personnel about the disaster or reach family and friends.
Calls were routed to CWA operators at the Glens Falls, N.Y., call center as 911 emergency facilities quickly became overwhelmed. Many CWA operators had conversations with people in the WTC towers, and relied on their emergency training and professionalism in a very difficult situation, the local said.
Keith Edwards, president of CWA 1105, said members working in the first tower of the WTC all got out safely; others at Verizon’s central switching office at 140 West Street were evacuated before a giant I-beam crashed through six floors and debris rained down on the building. “It was a traumatic situation for all of us, and especially for some of our members who saw the second plane hit the tower,” he said.
The local’s customer service representatives worked special Saturday shifts and have been supplying cell phones to business and commercial operations, until full service is restored. “Senior citizens who are home alone also are a big priority,” Edwards said.
The attack caused enormous problems for telecommunications throughout lower Manhattan. In addition to the devastation at the central switching office, four other Verizon facilities were damaged. Fiber optic cable and transport equipment — used by AT&T and Verizon to transmit data — were crushed or damaged by flooding.
The job of restoring communications and getting the New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street operations up and running has fallen to crews of more than a thousand CWA members who have been working around the clock since the attack.
Angel Feliciano, executive vice president of CWA Local 1101, said workers ran cables out the windows of the central office, along sidewalks, and above ground in a number of creative ways to enable the stock exchange to reopen a week after the attack. The loss of the central switching office at 140 West Street also affected Internet traffic, data lines and telephone service for more than 175,000 customers.
CWA’s Lucent Technologies members also worked at Ground Zero to help customers meet the stock market’s opening bell on Sept. 17. A crew of Lucent technicians, members of CWA Local 1190 and Lucent locals nationwide, worked around the clock to install a critical communications switch for high volume data traffic in only four days, said Ralph Maly, CWA vice president for communications and technologies.
Restoration work goes on in lower Manhattan with CWA members continuing their 12-hour shifts to run new cable for business, keep lines available for emergency crews and make repairs to damaged facilities. Workers are dispatched and assigned from a huge tent city that is operating as a command post, and local union officers and stewards have been staying around the clock as well. Safety precautions are paramount. In the days following the attack, a seismograph was monitoring movement outside the 140 West facility, to ensure that workers were safe.
Verizon has commended CWA and union members for their work in restoring the stock exchange, said CWA District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino. Lucent Technologies chief Henry Schact recognized workers “who accomplished amazing feats over the past two weeks.”
In New York, members of Local 1101 are joined by union members from Locals 1102, 1105, 1106 1108 and 1110. CWA members also are picking up the work normally done by union workers who are on the job at the disaster site.
At the Pentagon, members of Local 2336 built a telephone system from the ground up for 3,000 Pentagon workers relocated after the attack on that building.
“What they did was close to a miracle,” Local 2336 President Jim Pappas said. “In one week, they’ve rebuilt the entire telecommunications system. It isn’t pretty, the wires aren’t neatly hidden, but they are up and running. Very seldom do people get to see what our people do in this type of emergency,” he said.
As the horrifying situation unfolded in New York on the morning of Sept. 11, Verizon operators, members of CWA Local 1104 (formerly of Local 1112), began receiving hundreds of emergency calls from people in the World Trade Center who were trying to alert emergency personnel about the disaster or reach family and friends.
Calls were routed to CWA operators at the Glens Falls, N.Y., call center as 911 emergency facilities quickly became overwhelmed. Many CWA operators had conversations with people in the WTC towers, and relied on their emergency training and professionalism in a very difficult situation, the local said.
Keith Edwards, president of CWA 1105, said members working in the first tower of the WTC all got out safely; others at Verizon’s central switching office at 140 West Street were evacuated before a giant I-beam crashed through six floors and debris rained down on the building. “It was a traumatic situation for all of us, and especially for some of our members who saw the second plane hit the tower,” he said.
The local’s customer service representatives worked special Saturday shifts and have been supplying cell phones to business and commercial operations, until full service is restored. “Senior citizens who are home alone also are a big priority,” Edwards said.
The attack caused enormous problems for telecommunications throughout lower Manhattan. In addition to the devastation at the central switching office, four other Verizon facilities were damaged. Fiber optic cable and transport equipment — used by AT&T and Verizon to transmit data — were crushed or damaged by flooding.
The job of restoring communications and getting the New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street operations up and running has fallen to crews of more than a thousand CWA members who have been working around the clock since the attack.
Angel Feliciano, executive vice president of CWA Local 1101, said workers ran cables out the windows of the central office, along sidewalks, and above ground in a number of creative ways to enable the stock exchange to reopen a week after the attack. The loss of the central switching office at 140 West Street also affected Internet traffic, data lines and telephone service for more than 175,000 customers.
CWA’s Lucent Technologies members also worked at Ground Zero to help customers meet the stock market’s opening bell on Sept. 17. A crew of Lucent technicians, members of CWA Local 1190 and Lucent locals nationwide, worked around the clock to install a critical communications switch for high volume data traffic in only four days, said Ralph Maly, CWA vice president for communications and technologies.
Restoration work goes on in lower Manhattan with CWA members continuing their 12-hour shifts to run new cable for business, keep lines available for emergency crews and make repairs to damaged facilities. Workers are dispatched and assigned from a huge tent city that is operating as a command post, and local union officers and stewards have been staying around the clock as well. Safety precautions are paramount. In the days following the attack, a seismograph was monitoring movement outside the 140 West facility, to ensure that workers were safe.
Verizon has commended CWA and union members for their work in restoring the stock exchange, said CWA District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino. Lucent Technologies chief Henry Schact recognized workers “who accomplished amazing feats over the past two weeks.”
In New York, members of Local 1101 are joined by union members from Locals 1102, 1105, 1106 1108 and 1110. CWA members also are picking up the work normally done by union workers who are on the job at the disaster site.
At the Pentagon, members of Local 2336 built a telephone system from the ground up for 3,000 Pentagon workers relocated after the attack on that building.
“What they did was close to a miracle,” Local 2336 President Jim Pappas said. “In one week, they’ve rebuilt the entire telecommunications system. It isn’t pretty, the wires aren’t neatly hidden, but they are up and running. Very seldom do people get to see what our people do in this type of emergency,” he said.