CLEVELAND, March 30 — The U.S. Senate is currently deliberating on a bill, S. 1125, which will take away railroad workers rights to sue employers for asbestos related injuries.
Under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, injured rail workers are compensated for work-related injuries and illnesses. Railroad workers are not covered by state workmen’s comp systems. Seeing other big corporations lobbying for an anti-worker asbestos bill in Congress, the giant railroad companies are using this as a chance to deny their workers FELA protections when they get sick from asbestos, the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department (TTD) said.
According to the TTD, railroads are already exempt from the big punitive damage awards other corporations must pay for asbestos, so they certainly don’t need another special break at the expense of their workers.
The TTD is asking everyone to e-mail their Senators to oppose S. 1125, the “Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act.” Members are urged to use the TTD website to send e-mails to their Senators, www.ttd.org
Tell Congress not to take away rail workers’ FELA rights and to vote against S. 1125 or any bill that is unfair to those who become sick because of exposure to asbestos on the job.