Government
must ratify the 62 Conventions of ILO and Asbestos Resolution of 2006
India
must support inclusion of white chrysotile asbestos in the UN Hazardous
Substances list under Rotterdam Convention
Workers’
health indicates what’s going to happen to community and environment later
May 1, 2015: International
Workers' Day is a celebration of the working classes on 1st May
every year to commemorate the struggle for eight hours for work, eight hours
for recreation, and eight hours for rest. If government is indeed serious in
its celebrations of the day, it should ensure eight hour working hour across
private and public sector in the country. Government must ratify the 62
Conventions of International Labour Organisation (ILO) which it has not
ratified. Besides this, Government of India must act to implement the ILO
resolution of 1st June, 2006 seeking elimination of asbestos of all
kinds adopted by
the 95th Session of the International Labour Conference. The resolution reads:
The General Conference of the
International Labour Organization,
- Considering that all forms of asbestos, including chrysotile, are classified as known human carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a classification restated by the International Programme on Chemical Safety (a joint Programme of the International Labour Organization, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme),
- Alarmed that an estimated 100,000 workers die every year from diseases caused by exposure to asbestos,
- Deeply concerned that workers continue to face serious risks from asbestos exposure, particularly in asbestos removal, demolition, building maintenance, ship-breaking and waste handling activities,
- Noting that it has taken three decades of efforts and the emergence of suitable alternatives for a comprehensive ban on the manufacturing and use of asbestos and asbestos-containing products to be adopted in a number of countries,
- Further noting that the objective of the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention 2006 is to prevent occupational injuries, diseases and deaths,
1.
Resolves that:
(a)
the elimination of the future use of asbestos and the identification and proper
management of asbestos currently in place are the most effective means to
protect workers from asbestos exposure and to prevent future asbestos-related
diseases and deaths; and
(b)
the Asbestos Convention, 1986 (No. 162), should not be used to provide a
justification for, or endorsement of, the continued use of asbestos.
2.
Requests the Governing Body to direct the International Labour Office to:
(a)
continue to encourage member States to ratify and give effect to the provisions
of the Asbestos Convention, 1986 (No. 162), and the Occupational Cancer
Convention, 1974 (No. 139);
(b)
promote the elimination of future use of all forms of asbestos and asbestos
containing materials in all member States;
(c)
promote the identification and proper management of all forms of asbestos
currently in place;
(d)
encourage and assist member States to include measures in their national
programmes on occupational safety and health to protect workers from exposure
to asbestos; and
(e)
transmit this resolution to all member States.
This
resolution has been endorsed by the Supreme Court of India in its order dated
January 21, 2011 and National Human Rights Commission is seeking its
implementation from all the states and concerned central ministries. It is high
time the process is expedited. It is about time Government supported
inclusion of white chrysotile asbestos in the UN list of hazardous substances
under Rotterdam Convention to be consistent with India’s own domestic law like
Factories Act, 1948 and the inventory of hazardous chemicals import in India
prepared Central Pollution Control Board at the upcoming Seventh Conference of
Parties of the Convention in Geneva, Switzerland from 04 May to 15 May 2015. Workers
and their families who get exposed die a very painful death from the incurable
asbestos related diseases.
In contempt of Supreme Court’s judgment dated January 27, 1995, the Ministry of Environment of Forests continues to grant environmental clearance to asbestos based companies despite the fresh resolution of ILO seeking elimination of asbestos which has been endorsed by the Court. This has been reiterated by the Court in its judgment dated January 21, 2011. Thus, the ministry emerges as a anti-worker entity.
Supreme Court has examined the carcinogenicity of “ASBESTOS
(mesothelioma and lung cancer)” in the Consumer Education & Research
Centre Vs Union Of India & Others on
27 January, 1995 and observed that “In man the link of lung cancer with
asbestos has been mainly epidemiological. while asbestosis cannot occur without
exposure to asbestos mad consequently every case of asbestosis must be linked
with such exposure, with pulmonary cancer the situation is quite different. It
is a rather common disease in the general population. The link with exposure to
asbestos is based on finding whether in those exposed to asbestos is based on
finding whether in those exposed to asbestos bang cancer occurs more frequently
than in those unexposed, i.e. whether in those exposed there is an excess
incidence of lung cancers.”(1995 AIR 922, 1995 SCC (3) 42)
Apart from the
above resolution, Government of India must ratify these 62 conventions:
C087 - Freedom
of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948
C098 - Right to
Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98)
C138 - Minimum
Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)
C182 - Worst
Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182)
C129 - Labour
Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129)
C077 - Medical
Examination of Young Persons (Industry) Convention, 1946 (No. 77)
C078 - Medical
Examination of Young Persons (Non-Industrial Occupations) Convention, 1946
C094 - Labour
Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention, 1949 (No. 94)
C095 -
Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95)
C097 - Migration
for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97)
C102 - Social
Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102)
C106 - Weekly
Rest (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1957 (No. 106)
C110 -
Plantations Convention, 1958 (No. 110)
C120 - Hygiene
(Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1964 (No. 120)
C121 -
Employment Injury Benefits Convention, 1964 [Schedule I amended in 1980] (No.
121)
C124 - Medical
Examination of Young Persons (Underground Work) Convention, 1965
C128 -
Invalidity, Old-Age and Survivors' Benefits Convention, 1967 (No. 128)
C130 - Medical
Care and Sickness Benefits Convention, 1969 (No. 130)
C131 - Minimum
Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131)
C135 - Workers'
Representatives Convention, 1971 (No. 135)
C139 -
Occupational Cancer Convention, 1974 (No. 139)
C140 - Paid
Educational Leave Convention, 1974 (No. 140)
C143 - Migrant
Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975 (No. 143)
C145 -
Continuity of Employment (Seafarers) Convention, 1976 (No. 145)
C146 - Seafarers'
Annual Leave with Pay Convention, 1976 (No. 146)
C148 - Working
Environment (Air Pollution, Noise and Vibration) Convention, 1977 (No. 148)
C149 - Nursing
Personnel Convention, 1977 (No. 149)
C150 - Labour
Administration Convention, 1978 (No. 150)
C151 - Labour
Relations (Public Service) Convention, 1978 (No. 151)
C152 -
Occupational Safety and Health (Dock Work) Convention, 1979 (No. 152)
C154 -
Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981
C155 -
Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981
C156 - Workers
with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981
C157 -
Maintenance of Social Security Rights Convention, 1982
C159 -
Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983
C161 -
Occupational Health Services Convention, 1985
C162 - Asbestos
Convention, 1986
C163 -
Seafarers' Welfare Convention, 1987
C164 - Health
Protection and Medical Care (Seafarers) Convention, 1987
C165 - Social
Security (Seafarers) Convention (Revised), 1987
C166 -
Repatriation of Seafarers Convention (Revised), 1987
C167 - Safety
and Health in Construction Convention, 1988
C168 -
Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment Convention, 1988
C169 -
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989
C170 - Chemicals
Convention, 1990
C171 - Night
Work Convention, 1990
C172 - Working
Conditions (Hotels and Restaurants) Convention, 1991
C173 -
Protection of Workers' Claims (Employer's Insolvency) Convention, 1992
C175 - Part-Time
Work Convention, 1994
C176 - Safety
and Health in Mines Convention, 1995
C177 - Home Work
Convention, 1996
C178 - Labour
Inspection (Seafarers) Convention, 1996
C179 -
Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers Convention, 1996
C180 -
Seafarers' Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships Convention, 1996
C181 - Private
Employment Agencies Convention, 1997
C183 - Maternity
Protection Convention, 2000
C184 - Safety
and Health in Agriculture Convention, 2001
C185 -
Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003
C187 -
Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006
C188 - Work in
Fishing Convention, 2007
C189 - Domestic
Workers Convention, 2011
MLC - Maritime
Labour Convention, 2006
Source: http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:11210:0::NO::P11210_COUNTRY_ID:102691
The industrial disaster
of 1984 in Bhopal demonstrated that what happens to workers happens to
communities and environment. It is important for the government, trade unions
and all the social organizations to recollect the fate of migrant workers in
general and workers working in hazardous industries and to intervene to save
their health and life from dirty, degrading and dangerous working and living
conditions.
This day is celebrated
to commemorate the Haymarket affair, which occurred in Chicago on 4th
May 1886. This day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically
the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours
for recreation, and eight hours for rest. On May 4, the police were trying to
disperse a public assembly during a general strike for the eight-hour workday,
when an unidentified person threw a bomb at the police. The police responded by
firing on the workers, killing four demonstrators. The first May Day
celebration in India was organised in Chennai by the Labour Kisan Party of
Hindustan on 1st May 1923 wherein red flag was used for the first
time in India.
For
Details: Gopal Krishna, Occupational Health India
(OHI)-ToxicsWatch, Mb: 08227816731, 09818089660, E-mail:1715krishna@gmail.com,
Web: www.toxicswatch.org
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