AMRC-ANROAVConferences August 27- 31 st , 2007 Hong Kong

AMRC-ANROAV ConferencesAugust 27- 31st, 2007

Hong Kong

Lyle HargroveCAW H&S Training Fund

Sari SairanenCAW Health, Safety & Environment Dept.

Greetings from CAW-Canada

Buzz Hargrove – President

Jim O’Neil – Financial Secretary

Who We Are:

The CAW is the largest private sector union in Canada, representing 265,000 workers in a wide range of industries.

Building on our traditional base in auto, aerospace and other transportation equipment sectors, the CAW has been transformed through new organizing and mergers with other unions into a broad-based, general workers’ union.

Sectors We Represent:

A Diverse Work Force:

Women represent nearly 30% of total membership.

More than 25,000 members are skilled trades workers.

Members are organized into 282 local unions and more than 1,600 bargaining units.

Since 1985, our membership has more than doubled.

Constantly on the Move:

Over 500 collective agreements negotiated annually.

More than 1,500 members educated through various educational programs.

3 broad-based leadership meetings involving more than a thousand workers.

History of Worker Compensation in Canada

Beginnings in the province of Ontario. In 1910, Mr. Justice William Meredith

was appointed to a Royal Commission to study workers’ compensation. His report was finalized in 1913.

It outlined a trade-off in which workers’ relinquish their right to sue employers in exchange for compensation benefits.

– Compensation as long as disability lasts– No fault– Collective liability; employer funded– The WCB a public, independent institution – Non-adversarial

Ontario’s Workers Safety Insurance Board’s Selected Cancer Claims

Establishing a Compensation Claim for Occupational Disease

Most workers don’t consider occupational exposure as the cause of their illnesses.

Most cases of occupational disease are not compensated. Those who do file claims face a great number of obstacles. Often exposures go back decades. There are few records or evidence of exposure Employer exposure evidence is selective. Medical and hygiene resources available to the worker are

very limited. Experienced representation for the worker is difficult.

Occupational Intake Clinics

One strategy to identify and claim for occupational disease.

Unions work with doctors, hygienists and practical nurses to:

– Identify diseases that are work related.– Summarize the evidence re: work relatedness– File claims with the workers’ compensation board

Workers– Fill out questionnaires– Visit specialists in occupational medicine– Prepare a workplace retrospective to identify exposures.

Occupational Intake ClinicsExposing Asbestos Related Disease

3 stories of Asbestos Exposure

– Holmes Foundry, Sarnia Ontario– General Electric, Peterborough, Ontario– Marystown Shipyard, Marystown,

Newfoundland

Holmes Foundry Closed in 1988,- legacy of death lives on -

Holmes Foundry Claims

Peterborough – the Electricity City

GE workers used asbestos extensively and excess asbestos collected at the plant was sold to workers for use as home insulation

General Electric

CAW occupational intake clinic held in May 2004.– 670 workers came out– As of end of October 2006

200 claims filed with workers’ compensation board More than 30 asbestos related claims accepted. $3,000,000 paid out.

Asbestos Hurts More than the Workers

Asbestos exposure from hugging, washing clothes.

Some contract pleural plaques Some contract mesothelioma – e.g. 14 year

old son of one of our members died at 16. 1979 study:

– 678 wives and children– 39% had signs of asbestos scarring on lungs.

One Bad Fire was Enough

The Toronto reservations office had a fire resulting in asbestos insulation falling on our members’ desks.

They had to return to work before the clean up was complete.

One of our members contracted mesothelioma years later and she died.

CAW WORKERS EXPOSED TO ASBESTOS IN EVERY SECTOR THAT

WE REPRESENT FROM COAST TO COAST

How We Protect Our Members

1. Ban Asbestos Resolution passed in December 2003 by our top leadership.

2. Educate our membership to identify asbestos in their workplaces.

3. Work closely with the H&S committee members.

4. Work closely with skilled trades workers who are often most at risk.

5. Lobby municipal, provincial and federal governments.

What About Encapsulation (covering the asbestos)?

Eventually, all asbestos will become friable

Every time it is disturbed, it gets into the air.

Remove it competently and the problem is solved.

If the building is going to be torn down in the near future, crumbly asbestos can be encapsulated.

As long as asbestos continues to be used in consumer products and remains available for dispersion in buildings, it will continue to kill and injure thousands of innocent workers for decades to come.

Work Refusals Lead to Action on Asbestos

CAW members exercised their right to refuse work under Part 2 of the Canada Labour Code.

At airports throughout Canada

Through the courage of these CAW women members, they protected themselves, their fellow workers and the public.

We have banned the use of asbestos in our major collective agreements

We now have to bargain its safe, effective removal

But what about Canada’s export of asbestos?

The Chrysotile Institute promotes the safety of asbestos.

95% of our asbestos is exported to developing countries.

How can we export death to the third world?

Chrysotile asbestos – it looks so innocent, but it’s so deadly

Support the International Asbestos Ban

We Oppose Canada’s Role. Canada’s Chrysotile Institute promotes the sale of

chrysotile asbestos. Between 1984-2001, a total of $54 million were

allocated to the Institute. The President of the Chrysotile Institute, Clément

Godbout, is also a member of the Board of MAZARIN a company entirely dedicated to the sale of chrysotile.

Mazarin filed, on July 25th, 2007 a notice of intention to submit a proposal to their creditors under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

Support the International Asbestos Ban

We call on the Canadian Government to– ban the export of asbestos– withdraw its financial and political support from the

Chrysotile Institute– work with the communities involved to ensure a just

transition for asbestos workers– lobby for a world wide ban on the use of asbestos– support the inclusion of chrysotile on the pic list!

Support the International Asbestos Ban

We Call for Just Transition– Relocation assistance for miners and

residents– Re-training for workers– Income continuity– Pensions

Why does Canada support the production of asbestos?

Isn’t is unconscionable?

How can our federal government oppose asbestos bans in other countries, including bringing a complaint against the French asbestos ban to the WTO?

Because of politics !

SUPPORT THE INCLUSION OF ASBESTOS ON THE PIC LIST

The Canadian Auto Workers Support

a Total Ban of and the Use or Export of all Forms of Asbestos Worldwide