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Effort to Win Fair Asbestos Trust Fund
Bill Continues

April 25, 2005

The labor movement is continuing to fight for a compromise bill to establish a federal asbestos trust fund that ensures just and timely compensation to sufferers of asbestos-related diseases. The latest draft version of the legislation falls short of workers’ expectations.

In a statement issued on April 22, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney credits Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, (R-Pa), and ranking member, Patrick Leahy, (D-Vt.), for their hard work and determined effort to resolve difficult issues. However, Sweeney says, "Defendant companies and insurers have succeeded in blocking almost every change to the draft bill (S.852) that would have removed unfair and unnecessary barriers to valid claims."

Senator Leahy issued a statement, recounting more than three years or bipartisan negotiations that preceded the compromise on S.852. He says: "This is not the bill that I would have written were I alone responsible for its drafting, nor is the bill that Senator Specter might have produced. Leahy says that it comes as no "surprise" that groups, including labor and industry have expressed dissatisfaction with the bill. http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=46096.

Among the problems cited by the AFL-CIO with S.852:

• Elimination of coverage for 25,000 to 30,000 victims of asbestos-related lung cancers without permitting these individuals to document exposure through CT scans.
• Prevention of access to legal remedies for 60,000 to 80,000 individuals in the event that the trust fund is not operational.
• Barring or limiting the rights of victims of both silica-related disease and asbestos-related disease to compensation.
• Failure to establish clear and workable criteria to trigger the statute of limitations for bringing claims, particularly for non-malignant diseases that worsen over time.
• Clear language on the sunset of the Fund, including which claims will be allowed to go forward in court.

The AFL-CIO has played a constructive and responsible role in the legislative process on the asbestos trust fund, says Sweeney, and intends to "keep working to obtain the changes that would enable us to support the bill."