05 November 2004

Asbestos Victims Must be Compensated

“The victims of asbestos-related disease must the compensated,” Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

Christchurch School of Medicine research has confirmed that hundreds more New Zealanders have died from asbestos-related disease than is recorded on death certificates.

“Basic fairness, as well as the Government’s international law obligations, requires that victims of occupational disease are compensated in the same way as victims of accidents,” Ross Wilson said.

“Asbestos was used by business and Government in New Zealand despite available knowledge of its fatal health risks.”

The CTU has asked the Select Committee considering the Injury Prevention & Rehabilitation Amendment Bill (No 3) to amend the principal Act to ensure that the requirements of International Labour Convention 42 are fully complied with.

ILO Convention 42 requires the Government to ensure that in law and in practice the workers incapacitated by occupational disease are provided with the same compensation as the victims of accidents.

“The CTU expects to meet with the Minister for ACC Ruth Dyson to discuss this matter soon,” Ross Wilson said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

New Zealand Council of Trade Unions

Te Kauae Kaimahi

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi brings together over 350,000 New Zealand union members in 40 affiliated unions. We are the united voice for working people and their families in New Zealand.

CONTACT NEW ZEALAND COUNCIL OF TRADE UNIONS

• Website - union.org.nz/
• Phone - +64 4 385 1334
• YouTube
• Physical Address - Level 7, West Block, Education House, 178 Willis St, Wellington.

• Media Contact - huiaw@nzctu.org.nz
• Facebook
• Twitter - @FairnessNZ
• Postal Address - PO Box 6645, Marion Square, Wellington 6141.

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>