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Asbestos Activists Take Campaign To Hilary Benn’s Constituency

Members of construction union UCATT will this week extend their campaign to win justice for victims of pleural plaques by campaigning in the Leeds Central constituency of Environment Secretary Hilary Benn.

Leeds has the highest number of asbestos deaths in Yorkshire. Many deaths were traditionally associated with asbestos factories and heavy industries. Construction workers are now at greatest risk from asbestos, due to the material’s heavy usage in buildings.

UCATT campaigners will be in:

Lands Lane

Leeds

LS1 6AW

Friday 29 August 2008

From 11am – 1pm

Pleural plaques are scarring of the lung caused by heavy and prolonged exposure to asbestos. The scars become visible on x-rays following calcification. Pleural plaques cause limited physical symptoms, however victims suffer severe mental distress. Pleural plaques sufferers have a greatly increased chance of contracting the incurable lung disease mesothelioma.

Compensation for pleural plaques is a relatively low financial amount. However if a pleural plaque victim then develops the fatal lung cancer mesothelioma, the relevant insurers will have already been identified, meaning that compensation will be paid in a victim’s lifetime. If the insurers have not already been identified this is unlikely to occur.

Last October the Law Lords overturned over 20 years of common law and ruled that pleural plaques should no longer be a compensational illness. Their decision is understood to be worth at least £1.4 billion to the insurance industry.

Since that judgement asbestos campaigners led by UCATT have been attempting to get the Government to overturn the House of Lords decision. UCATT organised a highly successful postcard campaign, with thousands of people writing to the Ministry of Justice to get the ban overturned.

In July the Government released a consultation document on pleural plaques. While UCATT was pleased that the Government was actively considering the issue, they were disappointed that the document says the “Government is not minded” to overturn the Law Lords decision. This potentially places the Government at odds with the Scottish Parliament, who have already brought forward a Bill to overturn the Law Lords judgement. UCATT fears that a postcode lottery could be created with pleural plaques victims in Scotland receiving full compensation, while those in England are given less recompense.

Rather than overturn the Law Lords the Government appears inclined to create a scheme for asbestos victims. Such a scheme would not identify liability and the most severe cases would not receive adequate recompense.

In an attempt to place further pressure on the Government to overturn the Law Lords ruling, UCATT have decided to campaign in the seats of Cabinet Ministers where there is a high level of asbestos illness. On August 29 UCATT will be targeting the seats of Hilary Benn and also the Blackburn constituency of Justice Secretary Jack Straw.

Alan Ritchie, general secretary of UCATT, said: “After a highly extensive campaign the Government is at last seriously examining this issue. It would be unfair and intolerable if pleural plaques victims north of the border received compensation, while those in England did not.”

Last year other 2,000 people died of mesothelioma, the figure is set to increase further in future.

For Further information contact Barckley Sumner on 0780 2329235.

Asbestos Campaign Launch in Hull

Diana Johnson MP will launch construction union UCATT’s postcard campaign to overturn the Law Lords decision to block compensation for victims of pleural plaques.

Ms Johnson, UCATT activists and asbestos campaigners will launch the campaign in Hull.

The photo opportunity will be on:

Friday 28 March

Front Entrance of

Hull Business Centre

Guildhall Road

Hull

HU1 1HJ

3pm

Dave Oglesby UCATT’s official for Hull, will be available for interview following the photocall.

Pleural plaques is scarring of the lungs caused by heavy and long term exposure to asbestos. Victims of pleural plaques have a greatly increased risk of contracting mesothelioma the fatal lung cancer.

The Yorkshire and Humberside Region has one of the highest levels of asbestos victims in England.

Pleural plaque victims can experience a number of debilitating mental and physical conditions caused by their injuries. One in seven of those diagnosed with pleural plaques will develop mesothelioma. Mesothelioma kills 2,000 people a year. The number of people developing mesothelioma is set to increase in the future and is likely to peak in 2020 with 10,000 people dying from the disease. In 2006 167 people died in Yorkshire and Humberside from mesothelioma.

Diana Johnson, Labour MP for Hull North, “The Law Lords last year dealt a serious blow to many people in Yorkshire and the Humber who suffer serious illness from workplace exposure to asbestos. I know that ministers are exploring ways to overturn the ruling within the complex laws on negligence.  I strongly support every effort to correct an injustice that would otherwise cause misery and hardship for years to come. UCATT are 100 per cent right to keep this issue in the public eye.”

Dave Oglesby, UCATT’s regional official for Hull, said: “The Law Lords decision was outrageous and is a total injustice. Employers cannot get away with playing fast and loose with workers lives The Government’s must overturn the Law Lords decision as quickly as possible.”

In October last year the Law Lords ruled that pleural plaques would no longer be a compensatable illness. The decision has been widely criticised inside and outside Parliament. Campaigners have since been calling on Jack Straw the Secretary of State for Justice, to introduce fresh legislation to overturn the Law Lords ruling. It is estimated the ruling will save insurance companies over £1 billion in compensation payments.

Earlier this month the Prime Minister Gordon Brown indicated that there would be a consultation launched to examine whether the Law Lords decision should be reversed. Further details including in what form if any compensation would be paid, remains unknown.

A copy of the postcard which can be sent directly to the Ministry of Justice calling for the Law Lords decision to be overturned is available for download at: http://www.ucatt.info/content/view/404/30/

For Further information contact Barckley Sumner on 0780 2329235 or John Scott on 0789 4414615

Health & Safety. UCATT’s Commitment and Success

Construction is the most dangerous industry in the UK. That is why every worker in the construction trade should join us to ensure they remain safe on the job. Together we can ensure construction becomes safer and reduce site injuries and deaths.

The construction industry accounts for nearly a third of all fatal injuries to workers.

Every worker in construction needs UCATT, the union that fights to make health and safety a priority on all sites. UCATT has always campaigned for improvements in the construction industry's health and safety record.

If an accident unfortunately does occur then the injured worker has the full power of the Union to negotiate just and fair compensation for the injuries received through its specialist legal services department.

The record speaks for itself with millions being recovered in accident compensation for members injured at work. 

Listed below are a dozen of the typical types of claims settled this year in the Yorkshire Region:

Settlement: £2,000.00

Doncaster member injured his finger whilst knocking a road pin into the ground with a lump hammer.  The head of the hammer flew off and struck our member on the middle finger.

Settlement: £1500.00 

Rotherham member fractured his ring finger on his left hand and bruised his left upper arm in a work accident when he tripped over a piece of wood left lying in his path.  

Settlement: £5,000.00

Barnsley member slipped on a skid, which was covered under some sludge.  As a result he suffered a muscle strain and trapped nerve.

Settlement: £5,000.00

Grimsby member injured whilst working a whacker plate.  The handle of the whacker plate flew out and hit him in the face.                                                                                      

Settlement: £7,000

Leeds member suffered a hernia when lifting a heavy flag.

Settlement: £27,500.00

Grimsby member suffered a fractured right ankle as a result of falling down an unmarked hole.

Settlement: £3,690.03

Doncaster member was helping a colleague to carry a frame from the workshop to a loading bay.  The member struck his knee on a stack of concrete blocks, which had been left near the entrance.

Settlement: £6,960.11

Sheffield member suffered with industrial deafness.

Settlement: £2,250.00

Doncaster member sustained a deep cut in his forearm whilst carrying out repair works.

Settlement: £8,167.82

Sheffield member fractured his wrist in a works accident when he fell down an excessively large gap between the trailer he was working on and the walkway.

Settlement: £26,524.98

Doncaster member was helping to carry a large sheet of steel mesh.  The member stood on a road pin and fell suffering a back injury.

Settlement: £2,500.00

Yorkshire region member was talking to some men who were cleaning out a concrete pump.  They discharged the pump, which was still plugged into the air supply.  Our member was hit by some concrete under pressure.  Member suffered cuts and bruises and also shock.

UCATT Yorkshire Region. Winning For Our Members.

UCATT In Victory Over Sham Contracts

Construction union UCATT are hailing a recent employment tribunal decision as highly significant, in their campaign to ensure workers receive holiday pay.

The case involved two UCATT members from East Yorkshire who were employed as bricklayers by Redrow Homes (Yorkshire Ltd).

The written contracts described the men as “self-employed bricklayers” and the contract contained a clause, which in theory allowed the workers to send a substitute in their place.

However the Tribunal found the contract to be a sham as it “did not seriously reflect the relationship between the parties” and “it was never expected by either side, seriously or otherwise, that either of the Claimants would seek to provide a substitute or refuse the work offered”.

During the course of the Tribunal Redrow Homes admitted that the contract had been redrafted as a result of losing a Court of Appeal case on the issue of holiday pay in 2004.

The tribunal were highly critical of the company, stating: “Redrow in effect wanted workers but did not want to incur the obligation to pay holiday pay.”

Alan Ritchie, general secretary of UCATT, said: “Companies have got no hiding place they must accept that they have a duty to provide workers with basic rights such as paying holiday pay. This tribunal victory is significant as it serves as a warning to all companies that sham contracts and fake substitution clauses will not allow them to bypass their obligations.”