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Saturday 20, November, 2004 09:30 - 11:00, No.2 Conference Room Workshop C Trade Union Initiative Chairs: Shigeki Yamaguchi and Hajime Miyamoto Tomohiro Konya All Japan Garrison Forces Labor Union, Japan ABSTRACT: A newspaper in June 1996 reported that people who worked in the Yokosuka Naval Base were three times likely to die from lung cancer than the rest of the nation and more prone to pneumoconiosis and bronchitis. The results came from a retrospective cohort study on the mortality of asbestos-exposed shipyard workers, led by Norio Kurumaya of Nara Prefectural Medial University. Soon after the report, All Japan Garrison Forces Labor Union, with cooperation from the Kanagawa Occupational Disease Center, urged action from the Kanagawa Prefectural Government, then-employer of the shipyard workers. As a result, the local government launched in 1997 a three-year project to inform 13,353 former workers about a Health Service Note, a certificate that offers free health checkups for retired workers. We also supported the three lawsuits filed by former U.S. naval base workers against the government. The workers demanded compensation for lung problems contracted due to insufficient health safety measures in the workplace. After the plaintiffs won the first lawsuit in October 2002, we demanded the Defense Facility Administration Agency quickly compensate asbestos-related pneumoconiosis patients, better manage work conditions and adopt health safety precautions. We pointed out that the government is not exempt from ensuring worker safety, even if it does not have control over the U.S. navel base. The Defense Facility Administration Agency said it "takes the ruling seriously." It further said it will "take concrete measures to better meet other pneumoconiosis victims' demands and the government's duty to protect employee health. The solution must be comprehensive, given previous court rulings and the possibility of former workers contracting pneumoconiosis in the future." |