Document RaDmZ9YdYGZ9geawaVBKZra4E

FILE NAME: Allied Signal Bendix (ASB) DATE: 1981 DOC#: ASB020 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Newspaper Articles - Bitter Workers Blame Bendix it By Brian Sannon ' ta r Madteal E apartar Bob Taylor askod: " Who's going to taka care of my four children?" j The 36-year-oid former Bendix Corp.workcr told the Royal Commission on A4- I? bestos he has a disease called asbcstosis and no one will ur (lire him since Bendix closed. i!T m just a time bomb," hie v*iaid.v ' ' ' Asbcstosis is a lung obstruc tion caused by breathing in particles ofasbestos. \ i Friday's ono-day royal commission bearing at Win*. . dsor City Hall heard passion ate appeals from former Bendix workers and widowsi "These widows shouldn't be sitting her," said former Bendix worker Jade McCann, his voioeorecktog.i HE CALLED teettatonyby senior Ontario, ministry of labor officials "bullshit/ Minutes befor,~AseisUHft jf)aputy 'Minister.* o fL a b b r Ann Robinson 8atd jdie.be- jjieved "Bendix . x Bendbf- worker^^oihmy ment supfw^Ced' the CQmjB- U>unti,died )h$e tbbfiths ago nies, witnesses said " .* <with caV hat .m^Workmen `s Robinson told the comm* iCompenrtioaBo^rd found sion her,ministry has stated a to1 t^ biF aibestn-tblated study of^deroased'Dmix cancer, although he didn't workers to seewhy they died. 'wafirto' tHe high-isbestos. , She sdQjhe his the fuHbg- area. , C Operati('iwf the compa# f "This is th av story," and onion;''but UAW ofty- , McCann said, Vand people cials later, told the commw- wonder why we don't trust sion this |h e first they hayc i the ministry?" ? ` heard of this study and hairt ln'the morning, thegovern- had no inputs `..<4 , >3. ment also 6ame under Are by Robinson .amM&iuy to ' witnesses upset about, a s h ^ hear the ilrrtdnU ^rnwy ' f i tos In Windsor icl)oolt. ' L ' VBendix sub^hted^tp'iittor i Government is "the .eve&k. brief to the commissiondeni *faithful bedmate" ofind M ^|ingi"it 'bro*fc^any *lams and when safety issues are coi cernad, said Jim Brophy, head of the Windsor Oocupafcli of stional Safety . and , Health the asbestoscontroversy. | C o u n c il: s'; V . . Alt'. . IT ATTACKED UAW WORKERS had todo their statement* .* s "inaccurate own 18-month survry of the and misleading." J diesel smoke hazard at the . No one from Bendix Canadian Roek Salt mine, he showed ub FtMajP { said. Of 21 .claim* to the Wog- Unions lion Boat tanoe from tbestosis i t | Wyeth Co ^B bidix;tlo^t^> have fhealth iw mtmnCmpV ,, McCann said fpfi^auch i^4 many occasstons' fighting the union over health and safety protection. i i rv McCann, who was health '* and safety representative for. UAW Local 195, said senidr ministry inspector Hugh , JMebon "sat on hit ass" far more,than four years without enforcing Bet.,lf; 's violations ofsafety laws. i produaediiBo^Bnents -- showing. Nelson -signed or ders in 1966 to dean up haz ' ards at Bendix and .then * signed the same or `-( v ! 9A70N- UMBER b,, fL A .\ ' nesses attacked taken; by Bendix' . ministry that only 10 j of Benaix workers w. exposed tb:rasbestfll^'Evi office workee%$'said-' the. walked through,fJusty areas ofthe plants. '$1 I The GLOBE & MAIL January 6, 1981 35-year-old employee o f Bendix becomes 13th victim of asbestos WINDSOR (CP) -- A 35-year-old man has become the 13th victim to die of an asbestos-related cancer after working at one of the two Windsor plants of Bendix Corp., the man's,union representative and closest friend says. Tommy Dunn, who worked for alm ost 12 years in the welding department of one of the plants, died on Saturday. Doctors operated on Mr. Dunn in December, 1979, for mesothelioma, a rare form of inoperable cancer linked to asbestos fibres. They discovered two tumors in an ad vanced stage in his lung and gave him a maximum of two years to live. Rick Byrne, former plant chair man for Local 195 of the United Auto Workers, who worked with Mr.' Dunn for 11 years, and other union negotiators have taken the cases of 19 Bendix workers to the Workmen's Compensation Board. Thirteen of the 19, including Mr. Dunn, have died of asbestos-relat ed diseases. Mr. Byrne said Mr. Dunn asked him to check with the board to see whether he was eligible for bene fits. After long negotiations, the board decided Mr. Dunn's illness made him suitable for compensa tion and he received payment re troactive to November, 1979. However. Bendix. which uses asbestos in the manufacture of automotive brake linings, has never acknowledged that it was directly responsible for Mr. Dunn's illness. Mr. Byrne said Mr. Dunn was one of those concerned that Bendix did not completely comply with a 1966 Government request to clean up its plants. ' " They were supposed to clean it up in 1966 and Tommy didn't know why they didn't clean it up.'' Now, however, Mr. Byme said that although the union has made some headway, negotiations will be tougher because Bendix closed its two Windsor plants last August. "What can you change now -- they're gone."