Canadian Mine Workers Call for Compensation

June 28, 2006 - Former workers at Newfoundland’s defunct Baie Verte asbestos mine are disgusted with the call to perform yet another study to determine whether sickened mine workers are eligible for compensation.

The United Steelworkers Union reports that the committee who oversees the compensation system for the workers has requested a study be done on former miners who are now sickened with asbestos-related diseases, including cancer. 

Officials from the union told CBS News Canada that the suggestion of a study only makes it look like the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission is waiting for former miners to die.

"Enough is enough," said Marie Kelly, an assistant director with the Steelworkers union. “Quite honestly, it's outrageous and it's tragic … today we sit here and we still don't have justice,” she added.

The Baie Verte mine was developed in the mid-1950s and closed about 40 years later in 1995.  About 140 of the men who worked there have developed some form of cancer, including mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer for which the only known cause is exposure to asbestos.

Under current compensation laws, those with lung-related cancers have been compensated, but workers who developed gastrointestinal cancers were not included in the compensation plan. 

Newfoundland Provincial NDP leader Lorraine Michael said the link between asbestos exposure and gastrointestinal cancer has been proven to her satisfaction and that she believes it’s time for the government to act, providing equal compensation for these cancer sufferers.

"The information that the Steelworkers have in their hands is accurate information, and I stand with them," Michael said.

However, experts hired by the compensation commission disagree, saying that the link between asbestos and gastrointestinal cancers is not solid.

The Baie Verte mine was, in the 1970s, the site of Canada’s longest-ever labor strike.  During that strike, workers were not rallying for more pay but rather healthier and safer working conditions.