Unions lobby for a decision to restore compensation for pleural plaques as an industrial injury .
In 2006 the Appeal Court reversed some 20 years of case law and declared that pleural plaques were not a compensatable medical condition. This decision was upheld by the Law Lords in 2007, and the government announced it would consult on the matter. The consultation period ended on 1 Oct 2008. UCATT, along with the GMB and Unite, organised a demonstration and lobby of MPs on 28 Oct to ask for the Government to make a prompt decision following the consultation and to restore compensation for workers affected by pleural plaques. They argue that these are clear evidence of employer neglect, and that workers also deserve compensation because of the high level of risk of developing a more serious asbestos-related disease. A year after the consultation ended the government had still not made a decision. Several hundred trade-unionists, mainly form the GMB and Unite, came to Parliament to argue their case and a group of MPs came out to join them. Placards and t-shirts called for 'Justice for Asbestos Victims' and for the House of Lords decision to be overturned.
Size: 5040px × 3347px
Location: Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London, England, UK
Photo credit: © Peter Marshall / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: appeal, asbestos, asbestos-related, asbestosis, compensatable, condition, consultation, decision, demonstration, disease, gmb, government, health, industrial, injury, justice, lobby, medical, mps, neglect, parliament, plaques, pleural, safety, trade, ucatt, unions, unite, victims, workers
