Putting the brakes on asbestos in global trade
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA, trade unions and ban asbestos networks globally are organising together to make 2017 the year to finally shake up the global asbestos trade.
Activists from across south-east Asia are stepping up the campaign to ban asbestos
Asbestos is a thriving industry and asbestos lobbyists have set their sights on south-east Asia as the next frontier for new trade markets in the Third World. This was outlined at the recent annual South East Asian Ban Asbestos Conference, held in Jakarta in November.
Australians have become complacent about asbestos
The Roman Empire used it for household goods, its name is derived from the Greek word for indestructible and evidence of it has even been found in ancient China. But despite the many volumes of scientific evidence proving its poisonous nature – and decades of campaigning by the Australian union movement – asbestos is now threatening to have a resurgence in Australia.
Ramping Up The Fight On Asbestos
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA’s Executive Officer Kate Lee knows all too well why asbestos continues to be discovered on Australian building sites so many years after bans on the material were put in place. This month she updates us on how APHEDA is tackling this...
“We never knew. The factory owners told us it was safe”
Bono is the general secretary of SERBUK, an Indonesian trade union based in West Java. It was only after working in an asbestos roof sheeting factory for 17 years that Bono learned asbestos was in fact dangerous – “We never knew. The factory owners told us it was safe”.
Welcome Brother Wira!
In March, Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA welcomed a friend, Wira Ginting, from our new partners in Indonesia LION and INABAN (the Indonesia Ban Asbestos Network). Wira visited us and unions to talk about the situation with asbestos in Indonesia, to plan to organise to stop its deadly use and to invite Australian unionists to get active in the campaign …