(The Transport Workers Union of America issued the following news release on August 18.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Six weeks after workers at Amtrak’s Beech Grove, IN facility were exposed to asbestos, the railroad still refuses to share information with the union about the incident. The workers were performing maintenance work on an Amtrak dining car. It is not known how many Amtrak cars still contain the dangerous substance. This incident comes despite Amtrak’s pledge to remove all equipment containing asbestos by September of 2001.
In response to the July 3, 2003, incident, Amtrak officials ignored their own emergency evacuation plan. It took facility management over 90 minutes to evacuate the exposed workers. When it finally evacuated them, Amtrak officials brought the workers into an area where other employees were eating lunch. Amtrak officials never even called the local fire department. Only a call from the union, the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), alerted them to the life-threatening situation.
Since the incident, Amtrak President David Gunn and his staff, according to TWU Railroad Division Director Charles Moneypenny, have ignored the union’s requests for information on the exposure.
“Amtrak’s refusal to answer basic questions about this dangerous situation is reckless,” says Moneypenny. “They are playing Russian roulette with the health of riders and workers. It is time for Amtrak to be accountable and truthful.”
According to the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the inhalation of asbestos fibers by workers can cause serious diseases of the lungs and other organs that may not appear until years after the exposure has occurred. For instance, asbestosis can cause a buildup of scar-like tissue in the lungs and result in loss of lung function that often progresses to disability and death.
The Transport Workers Union of America, founded in 1934 as an industrial union, represents over 100,000 workers in the mass transportation, airline, railroad, utility, university, municipalities, service and allied industries. The TWU is affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the worldwide International Transport Workers Federation (ITF).