After a nine-year battle that CWA helped lead, a bill to ensure medical monitoring and treatment of workers exposed to toxins at Ground Zero has passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

In a bipartisan 33-12 vote, the committee voted to send the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 to the full House. It would provide mandatory funding for medical monitoring and treatment programs for emergency responders, recovery crews and others working at Ground Zero, including about 1,500 CWA members in telecom, the public sector, newspapers and broadcasting.

The bill is named for a NYPD detective who died in 2006 of respiratory disease believed to be linked to his work at Ground Zero.