Unite ensures asbestos victims’ claims honoured by
government
13th February 2009
The government today (Friday) took a decision
benefiting hundreds of sufferers of the fatal asbestos cancer,
mesothelioma.
The people affected were exposed to asbestos
by Turner & Newall (T&N) the UK’s largest asbestos company
which went into Administration in 2001.
It was also understood that T&N claimants
were entitled to the state payment under the Pneumoconiosis 1979
Act. It was further understood that the sum of both payments fell
well short of the total amount claimants should have received.
Unite, the UK’s biggest union, acted swiftly
with the help of Terry Rooney MP, who has worked extremely hard
throughout the process. The uniqueness of the T&N asbestos
victims’ position meant special measures were needed to ensure that
they were not unfairly penalised under the new legislation. The
decision today reinstates the exemption for T&N claims from the
government’s Compensation Recovery Unit.
Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of
Unite, said: “We are delighted that the government has put this
right. Had it not been for Unite’s prompt intervention this problem
would have remained unchecked to the disadvantage of many
mesothelioma sufferers and their families. This decision will
benefit our members and countless other T&N asbestos victims
who have suffered serious pain and loss of life, and it will aid
their families who have to care for them.
“The union stepped in because it was wrong
that workers condemned to an agonising death, and their grieving
loved ones, were facing their compensation being so drastically
cut. It was an important point of principle which Unite was
committed to getting resolved.
“The new legislation was intended to benefit
people with mesothelioma but it also resulted in compensation
payments to victims from the T&N Trust being drastically
reduced or extinguished altogether. The determined action taken by
Unite the union was instrumental in raising this issue at the
highest possible level and achieving a fair and just political
solution.”
ENDS
For more information contact Brian Gallagher
on 07957995947
Notes:
The former Secretary of State John Hutton
exempted T&N claims from compensation recovery provisions of
the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997.
Federal Mogul's (T&N’s new owners) Chapter
11 bankruptcy exit plan resulted in T&N asbestos claimants
receiving only a small fraction of their entitlement to
compensation, in many cases as little as 17 per cent.
This exemption came in to force in 2006. At that time it was
also understood that T&N claimants were entitled to the state
payment under the Pneumoconiosis 1979 Act. It was further
understood that the sum of both payments fell well short of the
total amount claimants should have received. The government gave a
clear intention not to penalise T&N claimants twice.
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