Reported by Tom Brokaw NBC Air Date: 12/21/2001
Transcript [Excerpt]
BROKAW: (Voiceover) Others in Jersey city, who never imagined the disaster would have any impact on them personally, suddenly found themselves victims, as well.
(Women talking)
Ms. WILNEYDA LUNA: I had spoken to my boss, and I had asked him, "is my position going to be OK?"
BROKAW: (Voiceover) Wilneyda Luna lives in Jersey City and worked for a company that supplies lights to Broadway shows. In the days after the attacks, Broadway virtually shut down. The industry lost $5 million in one week, closed five shows. No shows meant no lights, and the company Wilneyda Luna worked for suddenly lost its customers. And her boss laid her off.
(Wilneyda Luna at home; Broadway)
Ms. LUNA: He basically apologized. He said, `I'm so sorry that this, you know, happened. It's just that we have been affected directly.'
BROKAW: (Voiceover) For the past month, she's been going to employment agencies and pursuing help wanted ads. Her husband is a truck driver, but they needed more money to support their 5-year-old son and baby on the way.
(Luna searching ads)
Ms. LUNA: There are times when I get desperate. Desperate enough to be like, `What am I going to do? I'm going to go crazy here.'
BROKAW: The government says 800,000 people, including Wilneyda, have lost their jobs in this country in the months since September 11th. And while many Jersey City residents lost their jobs, the city itself was suddenly a major destination for Manhattan firms such as Merrill Lynch, which lost valuable office space in the attack.
(Voiceover) On Thursday, just two days after the attack, thousands of stunned Merrill Lynch employees commuted to their jobs in Jersey City, across the river from their old office space.
(Manhattan after attack)
Source:
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