By Randolph E. Shmid, Associated Press, 11/22/01

WASHINGTON -- The president of a major postal employees union says he will recommend his members refuse to work in buildings where any trace of anthrax remains, because of continuing uncertainty about their safety.

Two postal workers have died and others have been sickened by anthrax since tainted letters began appearing addressed to the news media and members of Congress. Postal facilities in New Jersey and Washington remain closed for decontamination.

"It's a continuing concern that so much uncertainty continues to exist regarding the source of these infections," said Bill Burrus, president of the 360,000-member American Postal Workers Union.

Nationwide the post office has tested 278 facilities for anthrax and so far 21 have been found contaminated to at least some extent. Nineteen have been decontaminated and reopened.

Burrus said postal management and unions have been working together on ways to deal with the anthrax threat, but have agreed to disagree on how to respond when contamination is found in a facility.

Medical experts differ on how much anthrax is needed to cause an infection, Burrus said, so "I'm telling my members we will not work in contaminated facilities. We will leave the building until it's tested clean."

Postal vice president Azeezaly Jaffer said he believed talks were continuing with the unions on how to respond in the event of future contamination and praised the union leaders for their cooperation.

Several postal facilities have been shut down during the anthrax attacks, but all but two have been cleaned and reopened.

But when sorting equipment at the giant Morgan facility in New York was found to be contaminated that area was screened off and cleaned while work continued in the rest of the building, despite objections from the union.

Having mail workers with masks and gloves do their jobs while nearby hazardous materials experts are doing cleanup "is not sound medical procedure and psychologically is an absolute disaster," Burrus said.

He accused the post office of backtracking on a promise to close down any facility where contamination was found.

Jaffer responded that in the Morgan case the post office gave workers the choice of moving to another facility if they were worried about their health. "We're going to find reasonable accommodation," Jaffer said.

Burrus said even a negative test "does not give me total comfort."

Anthrax tests involve sampling and not every part of a facility is checked, he said. "Testing is imperfect at best ... if there is something on a wall or the lights and if it becomes airborne, there's a risk of exposure."

Burrus also noted that some 20,000 postal workers have been prescribed antibiotics as a precaution and called for a follow-up study to determine if these drugs have any long-term effect on the workers.

He said he won't feel comfortable until authorities locate the source of the anthrax mailings.