Lucky to be Alive By Felicia Persaud New York, October 2001: Barbadian national Barbara James knows how lucky she is to be alive. She is one of 406 Windows on the World employees still standing tall following the kamakaze attack of September 11th. James says her life was spared because the visit of her brother and sister-in-law prompted her to take a week's vacation, something she had not done in the five years she was employed at the posh restaurant. Still this Massapequa resident says she "feels very depressed and lost." Of course a significant part of these emotions are because 80 of her co-workers are still listed as missing in the rubbles of the trade center. But James is also worried about her future. "I'm without a job and we have no word on whether we'll be relocated with the same company," the former director of housekeeping and mother of three told AST. Her plight she says is shared by fellow co-workers, many of them immigrants, who worked as housekeepers and stewards in the restaurant for eight dollars an hour. According to James, the day after the horrific tragedy, management of Windows on the World met with the surviving employees and relatives of the missing at another restaurant. There they were asked to fill out payroll forms and were each handed two weeks wages. But they are still awaiting payment for their vacation days as well as the final word on the insurance benefits. Many of the workers still missing as well as a large percentage of those alive were union members. James says she understands that the union is trying to sort out the $15,000 in benefits for the next of kin for those who are missing in the disaster. But as Windows on the World management tries to sort out its own insurance claims and retrieve some of the paper work lost in the attack, James says employees, herself included, are still awaiting word on whether they'll have a job with the restaurant after all the rubble is cleared. For now, many are trying to get unemployment and aid from Pier 94 and the Red Cross as they begin the process of job-hunting all over again. James herself says she will be searching for another job eventually, but for now, she is concerned for her co-workers who are jobless. "I wish there was a way I could open my own cleaning company and hire these people," says James. "I know they are hard workers."