WTC DIGGERS SLAM PLANS
FOR CEREMONY
By WILLIAM NEUMAN
and MAGGIE HABERMAN
May 24, 2002 -- Workers at Ground Zero are
up in arms over plans to keep them
out of the site during the ceremony
marking the end of recovery work, sources
said yesterday.
The recovery workers, who've been
searching for remains and removing debris
around the clock since the Sept. 11 World
Trade Center attack, had originally
proposed a "last march" out of
the site, with all the workers escorting
the
30-foot- tall steel beam from the south
tower.
Instead, the workers have been told they
have to clear out of the site, and
stand on West Street to watch the tribute
next Thursday morning, said sources
familiar with the plans.
City officials have "completely taken
it away from us," said one source.
"And
we don't even get to be part of it, and we
created this idea, [that] we march
out of the hole. A lot of labor unions are
upset."
Mayor Bloomberg's spokesman, Ed Skyler,
declined comment.
The workers will be part of a separate,
bagpipe ceremony on Tuesday night,
when the last beam remaining at the site
is cut down, put on a flatbed truck
and draped in black.
But on Thursday, there will be only a
small color guard representing city
agencies escorting the beam, the source
said.
"The whole concept got ruined,"
said the source, adding some workers might
not
attend.
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