Teamsters Urge Senate to Pass Zagroda Act for 9/11 Victims

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Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa applauded the House of Representatives today for passing the James Zagroda 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. Hoffa urged the Senate to take up the bill quickly.

The bill (H.R. 847) would provide medical monitoring and treatment to people suffering serious diseases because of exposure to toxic debris from Ground Zero. Recipients of help would include emergency responders, recovery and clean-up workers, as well as World Trade Center neighbors.

Teamsters were among the thousands of rescue and recovery workers who responded to the attack.

"Nine years after the terrorist attacks on our country, 9/11 is still claiming people's lives," Hoffa said. "It's past time to live up to our moral obligation to help the sick and the dying, and to show that we understand the value of their sacrifice.

"Some workers have gone bankrupt after they got sick from the World Trade Center site," Hoffa said. "It's appropriate that we reopen the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund to give them some relief."

The bill was named after James Zagroda, a retired city detective who at age 34 got sick after working hundreds of hours at Ground Zero and died of lung disease in 2006. Doctors said he died of chronic lung disease caused by the inhalation of dust.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.