Manila, Philippines (16 March 2011) – The House of Representatives Committee on Ecology approved House Bill Nos. 479 and 896. The approval came after the bill authors agreed to an amendment addressing installed asbestos-containing materials in houses and buildings. A Technical Working Group (TWG) tasked to consolidate the bills would craft the amendment. Read the rest of this entry »

February 18, 2011: MANILA, Philippines—If you are planning to renovate your house built in the 1970s, you may not be aware of the danger posed by such a job in terms of financial and health costs to your family. Homes built around this time are most likely to contain asbestos in their construction.
Asbestos is a mineral substance that was once considered a “miracle mineral” when it was used in the building industry in the 1800s. Read the rest of this entry »

17 February 2011: Manila, Philippines – The Building and Woodworkers International (BWI) affiliates would engage their construction safety officer-members in the campaign to ban asbestos in the Philippines. In a meeting Friday, February 11, 2011, the National Union of Building and Construction Workers (NUBCW) and the Association of Construction and Informal Workers (ACIW) volunteered their safety officers to be trained as asbestos advocates in the workplace. Read the rest of this entry »

Campaigners are protesting against plans to re-open the world’s largest asbestos mine, the Jeffrey Mine in Quebec with the help of $58 million from the provincial government. The mine would export upwards of 6 million tonnes of chrysotile asbestos to less industrialised countries over the next 25 years. Read the rest of this entry »

Below is an excerpt from the above article by A.G ROMUALDEZ JR., M.D.

An article in The Lancet, a leading international medical and public health journal, has accused the government of Canada of hypocrisy in its policies regarding the asbestos industry. Asbestos, established as a cause of mesothelioma (a deadly form of lung cancer), has long been banned for use in construction in almost all developed countries – including Canada. Nevertheless, that country is still one of the world’s major exporters of the lethal material to countries that still allow its use – such as India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Read the rest of this entry »

Associated Labor Unions (ALU)

Building and Woodworkers International (BWI)
Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)

9 December 2010, Manila, Philippines

CANADA, STOP EXPORTING CHRYSOTILE ASBESTOS TO ASIA!

The Quebec government in Canada is preparing to give a loan guarantee of $58 million to rescue the asbestos industry and allow the opening of the new Jeffrey underground mine. Jeffrey Mine plans to export 200,000 tons of asbestos a year from the new underground mine to developing countries for the next 25 to 50 years. Read the rest of this entry »

Civil society around the world has been galvanized by the Québec Government’s plans to underwrite a new chrysotile mine in the Canadian town of Asbestos. Outrage has been expressed by asbestos victims’ groups, trade unionists, politicans, academics and concerned citizens. Opposition to the new mine has been aired in newspaper articles, the academic and trade press, Parliament, street demonstrations as well as in venues not used to political discourse. One thing upon which all the objectors agreed was that the establishment of a new asbestos mine in Québec would be a morally repugnant act unworthy of a civilized country. Read the rest of this entry »

Manila, Philippines – “Galvanized iron flies and can injure or kill in accident,” said the chrysotile industry. “That’s like winning in lotto although the probability of being hit by a lightning is higher,” retorted the unions. Read the rest of this entry »

PRESS RELEASE

Associated Labor Unions (ALU)
Building and Woodworkers International (BWI)
Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)
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Manila, Philippines, 19 October 2010 – “Senator Manny Villar as Chair of the Senate Committee on Trade and Commerce will schedule public hearing on Senate Bill No. 89 (SBN-89) banning asbestos when the Senate resumes session on November 8, 2010”, replied Atty. Gladys Garcia from the Senator’s office during the handover of trade union position on the asbestos ban bill 11 October 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

The globalization of economic activity and the accelerating international division of work, has lead to the dumping of hazardous and less profitable industries from industrialized or emerging industrial countries onto unprotected and vulnerable regions in less developed countries. Typical of such industries is shipbuilding. Four years ago, a Japanese shipbuilding company, Tsuneishi Heavy Industries Inc., developed an industrial zone, West Cebu Industrial Park (WCIP), in the West Cebu Island in the Philippines. A local developer was contracted by Tsuneishi to operate a shipbreaking dock there. Read the rest of this entry »