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IBEW Member Fights 9/11
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Rich Mulhern, New York Local 3, stands across from World World Financial Center, site of temporary morgue and triage center for victims of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. |
As Rich Mulhern sat in his truck on New York’s Wall Street reviewing blueprints with his partner, a gust of shredded paper flew by. “Funny,” the New York Local 3 member thought, “I didn’t know that there was a ticker-tape parade today.”
The paper debris that rocketed from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, was his first warning of a parade of misery that would put him to work at Ground Zero, destroy his physical and emotional health and later send him to Washington, D.C., in June 2005 to argue against Congress cutting relief funds for 9/11 victims and their families.
Mulhern protested plans by House budget leaders to take back $125 million of unspent September 11 aid, part of a $175 million pledge for anticipated claims on behalf of those killed or injured at the Twin Towers.
He joined other workers from ground zero at a press conference called by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and attended by Senators Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Rep. Gerald Nadler, D-N.Y., Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., and Attorney General Elliott Spitzer of New York.
Maloney insisted that the funds are needed to address the developing health problems of 9/11 workers, including emergency personnel, who were exposed to toxic debris.
The attention helped New York lawmakers negotiate a verbal understanding with House budget leaders that they hope will return all or some of the monies to New York.
Mulhern doesn’t expect to share in any monies returned. His claim has been turned down twice by the fund administrator, who held that since Mulhern wasn’t hospitalized in the first three days after the terrorist attack, he wasn’t eligible for funds.
Mulhern’s fight is for those who are in worse shape.
“My attorney tells me that I could be a poster child for the survivors of Ground Zero,” says Mulhern, reflecting on the day that transformed his life.
“A woman ran by as we sat in the truck and said that the World Trade Center just blew up,” says Mulhern. Since his partner’s father worked at the Twin Towers, they ran to the scene. He was directly under the “fireball” when the second plane hit.
Mulhern heard a loud drone, like the “sound a train makes in a tunnel.” The towers were collapsing. “Thank God, I escaped,” he said.
He returned to his buddies in lower Manhattan who worked for Hugh O’Kane Electric Company. That night, his foreman assigned him to work at AT&T, north of the World Trade Center site, to restore some fiber-optic equipment. He worked until 3 a.m., but couldn’t stay on the job because he had a particle in his eye from Ground Zero.
After revisiting the disaster scene to have his eye treated by Red Cross volunteers, he began to walk back to work. “I accidently slipped on a manhole cover buried in debris,” says Mulhern, “cracking my knee-cap.” He shook it off and went back to the job.
“I was running on adrenaline,” he says, working “despite the pain in my knee.” Mulhern said that he and his crew wanted to help restore lost communication systems.
“Before 9/11, I had one of the best jobs in Local 3,” he says. “I had special training as a tester and cable-splicer. Sometimes customers would call at 2 a.m. with a fiber-optic problem. I felt like a doctor. I was at the pinnacle of my career.” For three days, Mulhern helped to restore lost service to Wall Street.
Mulhern returned to his home in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. He hadn’t been home in three days or changed his clothes. His knee had gotten worse. But, with barely a break, he was back in the vicinity of the World Trade Center site, and slogged on for a year and a half, working as a tester and splicer, pulling cable and bending pipe, until his knee finally gave out. He went on furlough.
His swelled knee was the least of his ailments. He had trouble breathing. Sleep was interrupted by nightmares. He stayed angry and developed psoriasis.
He was diagnosed with obstructive lung disease. X-rays found a small growth in his lung. Psychological observations concluded that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. His physicians attributed his illnesses to his time at Ground Zero.
He brought paperwork to the head of the Victim’s Compensation Fund. Because he had not been hospitalized, however, his claims were rejected.
“I was still out of work for two years and at the brink of collapse before I finally qualified for Social Security disability payments,” he says. While he says that the IBEW treated him “royally” with health and prescription drug benefits, “the money was coming in one small window and going out a much bigger one.” His depression deepened when he was forced to remove money from his children’s college fund. Help from the Victim’s Fund could have made a big difference, he says.
“I’m thankful that Congresswoman Maloney involved the IBEW in this fight. I appreciate the support of other IBEW members, as well,” he says.
