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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 2006)
Industry-backed asbestos bill criticized by victims, labor The national AFL-CIO, the Change to Win labor federation and the National Education Association have joined a growing chorus of crit- nancial hazards, stalled the measure in debate the second week of February. A vote to end the talk-a-thon was was held Feb. 13. WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — Senate foes of both parties, upset by a controversial asbestos trust fund’s bill treatment of victims and leery of its fi- Swanson,Thomas &Coon ATTORNEYS AT LAW Since 1981 James Coon Ray Thomas Megan Glor Margaret Weddell Sharon Maynard Cynthia F. Newton James Oliver Kimberly Tucker Tip of the week: To receive disability benefits from Social Security you generally have to establish that you are disabled within five years after your last day of work. If you can’t do that, you may qualify for Supplemental Security Income benefits. We represent people on all types of injury and disease related claims. n Workers’ Compensation and Longshore n Asbestos/Mesothelioma n Personal Injury/Product Liability n Social Security Disability n Death Claims n ERISA/Long-Term Disability We provide straight answers at no cost on any of the above areas of law. CALL US or VISIT OUR WEB SITE ( 503) 228-5222 http://www.stc-law.com ics. The bill, S. 852, was written by large asbestos manufacturers, their in- surers, and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and would create a $140 billion trust fund. Over the next 30-50 years it would pay medical costs of victims of asbestos, a substance used in every- thing from ships to cars to buildings that got into workers’ lungs and caused mesothelioma, asbestosis and other fatal illnesses. Sick workers and widows and fam- ilies of those killed by asbestos expo- sure have filed thousands of lawsuits against companies, many of which continued using the material after it was determined to cause cancer. Some senators estimate asbestos has 200,000 victims, but Public Citi- zen reported 681,756 asbestos claims against just eight big firms alone: Union Carbide/Dow Chemical, Gen- eral Electric, GM, Ford, Georgia Pa- cific, Honeywell/Bendix, Pfizer and Westinghouse. Public Citizen said the bill would save 10 big manufacturers who have been sued an estimated $20 billion over 50 years, in today’s dollars. If the trust fund is created, the firms — Armstrong, Babcock & Wilcox, Com- bustion Engineering, GAF, Honey- well, Kaiser Aluminum, Owens Corn- ing Fibreboard, Pittsburgh Corning, USG and W.R. Grace — would pay from zero to $2.3 billion. Their pay- ments to the fund would total $5.57 billion. Without the fund, claims by injured workers against those firms to- tal $25.91 billion. The trust fund created by S. 852 would be the victims’ only recourse, and it would bar present victims from court; it would also bar future victims, including survivors of the World Trade Center attack and Hurricane Katrina. Both of those events released asbestos from buildings. The “interests of the defendants” — asbestos makers and their insurers — “have become paramount and the needs of victims have become second- ary,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. Asbestos victims groups called the measure totally unacceptable and said that if it becomes law, they and their families would be out on the hustings reminding the country of what they call a miscarriage of justice. “This was drafted by and for a nar- row band of very large defendant companies who are seeking to dump their asbestos liability onto others,” NEA Government Relations Director Diane Shust wrote to senators. “Schools, colleges, and universities are settings where asbestos exposure has occurred and continues to pose significant health risks. With this leg- islation, asbestos victims will lose their rights and will be forced into a federal system that won’t help them cope with the devastating health and financial consequences as a result of asbestos poisoning,” Anna Burger, chair of the Change to Win labor federation, said the big asbestos manufacturers kept retreating from a commitment to treat the vic- tims fairly “and now we find that a last-minute amendment may” let in- surers evade all $40 billion they would owe to trust fund. “This asbestos bailout bill poses more questions than answers and adds insult and injury to asbestos victims and their families who have been in- sulted and injured so personally,” said Susan Vento, of the Committee to Pro- tect Mesothelioma Victims. That dis- ease killed her husband, the late Rep. Bruce Vento (D-Minn.). “Each year, hundreds of thou- sands” of asbestos victims suffer from lung conditions which make breathing so difficult that they cannot function at all,” and 10,000 die, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said on the Sen- ate floor. “These are the real victims. They deserve to be the first and fore- most focus of our concern.” BENNETT HARTMAN MORRIS & KAPLAN, LLP Attorneys at Law • Personal Injury • Labor •Workers’ Compensation • Employment • Domestic Relations 111 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 1650, Portland, Oregon 97204 503 227-4600 Representing Unions and Workers Since 1960 (Our legal staff are proud members of UFCW Local 555) PAGE 8 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS FEBRUARY 17, 2006
