© 2015 District Council of
Iron Workers. All Rights Reserved
Workers Leading the Way Again
Americans have always stood in awe of Ironworkers. Ironworkers are men
and women brave enough to learn a trade that challenges the laws of nature in
order to build dreams. They are not typical workers. It is no
surprise, therefore, that these hard working, skilled trades people are the
first to volunteer in times of need. Tuesday, September 11th, 2001,
presented the most heartbreaking challenge our country has known within its
Ironworkers were naturally among the first to respond to our terrible national
tragedy. Before the first of the rescue operations were in place,
Ironworkers were calling their Local Union halls and the Union Headquarters in
Washington, D.C., to immediately offer their assistance.
While many Americans were feeling shocked and helpless, Ironworkers were
leaving their homes and traveling from all over the country, bringing supplies
to their fellow laborers, offering skills, and volunteering to clean the
tangled mess of steel and glass which had become the gravesite for so many of
our loved ones at the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.
As Ted Crocker, retired member of Local 361, Brooklyn, New York, writes, “A
proud International; a proud Union; a proud group of men who were on the scene
before all the dust settled to assist in any way possible, risking their lives
climbing over twisted steel beams, columns . . . I am sure there are some that
worked on the erection of those buildings. My hat is off to them. .
they will always be remembered. . ”