Union-Made Ship Includes Steel from World Trade Center
2nd March 2008
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Yesterday, the USS New York, the Navy's most modern troop and equipment transport ship, was christened at Northrop Grumman's Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans. What makes the ship unique is the 7.5 tons of steel taken from the wreckage of the World Trade Center destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks that was cast into the bow of the ship.
There is something else special about the USS New York, says Ron Ault, president of the AFL-CIO Metal Trades Department. The hundreds of union members from the unions that make up the New Orleans Metal Trades Council built that ship while they were still dealing with the devastating impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. One of those workers is Boilermakers (IBB) member J.F. Martinez, who every night after work went home to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailer he and his wife share.