Remembering Our CWA Members Impacted by 9/11

Twenty-four years ago, on September 11, 2001, CWA members made a promise to never forget the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center Complex (WTCC) and the Pentagon, and those lost in Shanksville, Pa. The terrorist attacks took the lives of CWA, NABET-CWA, and AFA-CWA members. We honor the CWA airline workers, telecom workers, nurses, 911 operators, traffic enforcement agents and supervisors, public sector members, broadcast engineers and news crews, journalists and media workers, volunteers, and all of those who played a crucial role in responding to this tragedy and rebuilding our country.

Since 2016, Flight Attendants with AFA-CWA have served in an annual Honor Guard to make sure their fallen comrades are not forgotten. Every year, members of the Honor Guard attend services at the Pentagon, the National 9/11 Memorial in New York City, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., in uniform, where they deliver remembrance flowers and read aloud the names of fallen Flight Attendants, pilots, and passenger service agents.

 
The 2025 AFA-CWA Honor Guard, including AFA-CWA International President Sara Nelson (left), lays flowers at the Pentagon Flight 77 Memorial on September 9, 2025.

The toll of the attacks extended beyond just one day, and thousands of responders and survivors are suffering from 9/11-related illnesses or have died from their conditions. There are currently over 136,000 responders and survivors enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), including many CWA members. WTCHP quarterly reports can be found here.

The WTCHP, finally funded by Congress in 2010 after nine years of advocacy, is designed to provide medical coverage for those responders and survivors diagnosed with 9/11-related physical and mental health conditions. The program was reauthorized in 2015, with authorization expiring in 2090. However, increased costs have created an anticipated budget shortfall, which would begin to impact service as early as 2028. Bipartisan legislation in both the Senate and House has been proposed that would close the funding gap for the program through 2090. You can find out if your representatives have supported this legislation by using this tool on the Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act website. CWA’s Health and Safety Director, Micki Siegel de Hernandez, is a member of the Board of Directors.

Click here to hear from CWA Local 1101 member Pat Hunt, a CWA 9/11 responder who spoke out in May when cuts to the WTCHP were first proposed.

In related news, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which administers the WTCHP, has been drastically reduced by the Trump Administration. By defunding this key federal agency, WTC survivors will be endangered and America’s workers will lose critical health and safety research. Fewer employers will adopt lifesaving technologies and practices, and more workers will be hurt and killed on the job. Call your representative and demand they stop the cuts to NIOSH.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.