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American Morning
Postal Union President Discusses Anthrax
Aired November 23, 2001 - 08:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Another group forced onto the front lines -- postal workers. Two of them have died from inhalation anthrax.
The Postal Union wants to make sure that no other workers are put in harm's way, and William Burrus is the president of the American Postal Workers Union. He's joining us to talk about that. He's in our Washington bureau this morning.
Good morning. Thank you very much for coming in, sir.
WILLIAM BURRUS, POSTAL WORKERS UNION: Good morning.
HARRIS: Let's first of all begin with the postal workers in the two different facilities that Michael Okwu just mentioned, Seymour and Wallingford. Do you know how all of those postal workers are doing today?
BURRUS: The information I have is that all the employees are doing fine. None have tested positive, but to the governor's credit in Connecticut, they closed those facilities.
HARRIS: Do you know anything at all about the testing being done right now in those facilities?>
BURRUS: Yes, they are currently testing to determine whether or not there is contamination, but that's an exception in Connecticut. The postal services policy throughout the country is that they will continue to work the employees in the facilities as they test and determine whether or not there is contamination.
HARRIS: Now we know that the Postal Union has been quite vocal in past weeks about the testing and the methods that have been used in the past -- at least the protocol about who deciding who gets tested and whether or not a facility should stay open -- parts of it should stay open or whether the whole thing should be closed down.
You're saying now that if anthrax shows up in any facility, you want the entire facility shut down. Has a policy been established on that yet?
BURRUS: Yes, the Postal Service has arbitrarily established a policy that they would not close the facilities down, they will establish parameters beyond which the employees will continue to work. That's arbitrary, and I think it's unfair to the employees. The medical community is certainly unsure at this point as to the exposure levels for employees.
Postal employees should be treated the same as those in the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and other facilities in this country that have tested positive, or my members will not work in contaminated facilities.
HARRIS: Yes, those other facilities you mentioned, what was the difference between the way they were treated versus postal facilities?
BURRUS: In some, there was only a suspicion of contamination. Others, there were traces of contamination. But in all those instances, they closed the facilities down. They're asking postal employees to continue to work in facilities that are known to be contaminated. This is unfair to the employees I represent.
HARRIS: So have you gotten any response at all to your position that you've established, about not working in any facility if any anthrax shows up there?
BURRUS: Yes, my union has worked very closely with postal management over the past five weeks, attempting to maintain the confidence of the American public in the mail system, as well as calming the anxiety levels of the employees. But now they've resorted to their arbitrary ways and have imposed the standard against the agreement of our union, and they've imposed that standard, saying that the members I represent will work in facilities are contaminated. Communications are now breaking down because postal management believes that the exposure has been contained. I'm not sure that it has.
HARRIS: Let me ask you something, playing devil's advocate here: Doesn't it excite anxieties in the general public if an entire facility or an entire system is shut down because of the appearance of it in one particular location, as opposed to what the Postal Service is suggesting right now, with just closing down that one section where it shows up.
BURRUS: I am not advocating the closing down of the postal system. We have a commitment to the American public who process and deliver mail, and we do that very well every day. However, if a facility is known to be contaminated, I'm sure the American public would understand that an employee should not work in those facilities.
It would take no more than 48 hours for the facility to be cleaned, tested, and reoccupied. But during that period, my members should not be exposed. Cipro is not the answer either.
I have 20,000 postal employees currently on Cipro. It has become a condition of employment. I'm demanding publicly that the Postal Service conduct a long-term medical survey of these employees, to track their health conditions over time. Never before in the history of our country has such a large group of employees been put on such medication, and I'm afraid that the possibility exists that the results of the medication may be worse than the exposure to the anthrax.
HARRIS: Have you heard any reports at all of any of those postal workers who have been on Cipro having any adverse reactions?
BURRUS: Yes. They're anecdotal, but many employees have reported headaches or being tired constantly. A variety of experiences by the employees, but I think there should be a medial analysis evaluation of those employees as a collective group -- not individuals, but collectively. And let's find out if five or 10 years from now there are common threads of adverse physical effects from the taking of Cipro.
HARRIS: William Burrus, president of the American Postal Workers Union.
This, no doubt, is not the end of this conversation about what's going to happen to the post offices across the country. We'll continue to follow that and continue to cover it right here.
Thank you very much for coming in this morning. Happy holidays to you.
BURRUS: Thank you.
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