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