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7 Terror’s Effects on Labor and Management Simultaneous car bombs destroy a huge hotel-casino in a large city, killing hundreds of gaming industry workers and their patrons. An explosion at a high-end jewelry chain kills dozens of jewelers and their customers. Hundreds of first-responders (e.g., police, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians ) rush to aid victims of a bioterrorism attack at an office building, but perish during a subsequent series of explosions near the initial incident. Any prospective terrorist attacks in the United States or abroad will victimize labor: whether they are at work or wherever they find themselves—at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Similarly, American armed forces and civilian contractors that aid the military in their duties abroad will face the consequences of terror. Given these grave circumstances, it is incumbent to address terror’s impact on labor-management relations so that we can better assess how to respond to this menace. This chapter addresses terror’s victimization of labor, including physical and emotional costs. Employer and governmental aid during crises, terror’s consequences on military personnel, workforce risks and opportunities, and post-9/11 employer matters are analyzed. Terror Victimizes Labor September 11, 2001,Terrorist Attacks Nearly 3,000 persons were murdered during the September 11, 2001, incidents including: 246 persons (excluding the 19 hijackers) on the 124 4 hijacked planes; 125 persons at the Pentagon (excluding those on the plane that crashed into the building); and the remaining at the World Trade Center. The ages of the victims ranged from age two to eighty-two. Many of the World Trade Center victims worked at domestic and international companies from all sectors of the economy as well as governmental and nongovernmental organizations. The fatalities represented over 80 nationalities, all races, and numerous religious faiths. Terrorist attacks can harm all levels of the labor force equally: a terrorist bomb does not distinguish among upper management, middle management, entry-level managers, and clerical workers. A broad attack can harm all sectors and skill sets. As was witnessed on 9/11, significant terrorist incidents can nearly instantaneously erase thousands in a particular sector’s warfare. About 2,000 people who worked in the financial industry died as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center. On that fateful day, the airline sector lost eight pilots and twenty-five flight attendants. The brutality at the World Trade Center decimated particular companies and organizations especially hard, including: Cantor Fitzgerald/ eSpeed, which lost about 670 employees; the New York City Fire Department , which lost over 300 members. The victims at the Pentagon included military personnel, contractors, and civilian employees. The American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) reported that hundreds of union workers were killed on 9/11, including firefighters, police officers, teachers, airline pilots , flight attendants, carpenters, electrical workers, machinists, office and professional employees, plumbers, painters, and pipe fitters. It would be an oversight not to mention the survivors of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. They were left with physical injuries that ranged from slight abrasions and bruises, broken bones that will heal, scars from burns that will instill agony and imprints for a lifetime , and severely crippling ailments that will lead to permanent disability . These walking wounded signify that terrorism’s damage lasts long after the event concludes. Fall 2001, Anthrax Cases in the United States In fall 2001, a number of anthrax-tainted letters and subsequent anthrax exposures occurred throughout the United States. By November 21, 2001, four U.S. workers—2 U.S. Postal Services employees in Washington , D.C.; an employee of American Media of Boca Raton, Florida; Terror’s Effects on Labor and Management 125 s and a worker at the Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital—and one retiree died as a result of complications stemming from separate anthrax attacks, which are still under investigation. By that date, too, at least 13 people were infected with anthrax in Florida, New York, and Washington, D.C. By mid-November 2001, anthrax spores were found in locations in Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. A number of federal office buildings in the Washington, D.C., area—mostly mail rooms and ancillary offices—tested positive for the presence of anthrax spores, including: Congress, the Central Intelligence Agency, State Department, Justice Department, Supreme Court, Food and Drug Administration, Voice of America, Veterans Administration , and...

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