This Tuesday, starting at 1:00 p.m., members of the Subway Workers Union Association and Premetro-AGTSyP, among other Subway workers, will be received at the Buenos Aires Legislature. It will be a public hearing in which the claims for the reduction of the working day and the unknowing of formations, workshops and stations will be addressed, a problem that affects workers and users.
It will be headed by the legislator for the PTS of the Left Unity Front (FIT-U) Alejandra Barry in the Montevideo Room of the legislative headquarters of the City of Buenos Aires. Guillermo Folguera, philosopher, biologist and socio-environmental activist; Matías Blaustein, PhD in Biology, CONICET Researcher and professor at the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the UBA; and Enrique Viale, environmental lawyer, among other references in the socio-environmental fight.
This instance is part of the fight that they have been carrying out with self-defense measures for weeks, but which has been going on for years. The workers’ claim is supported by the law in force since 2003 that prohibits the use of asbestos, commonly known as asbestos, in addition to the fact that the workers’ claim has a favorable ruling by Judge Liberattori and all the recommendations of international organizations such as The OMS. However, both the state company Sbase and the concessionaire Emova do not comply with any of them.
Claudio Dellecarbonara, a subway worker, a reference point for the PTS in the FIT and a member of the AGTSyP Executive Secretariat, explains that “what we are justly denouncing is a health crisis underground due to the presence of a mineral that is prohibited and highly carcinogenic, which is asbestos. Unfortunately, it already had consequences on the lives of the workers: we have three deceased colleagues, eighty-five affected (six of them with cancer). We have also confirmed the affectation of users. And that is the situation, a mineral that puts the health of millions of users and thousands of workers at risk that should have been withdrawn as of 2003 when it was banned and that not only did neither the governments nor the company withdraw it concessionaire but they also did not warn us of the presence of this mineral and forced us to work in these conditions”.
He added that they are asking for it to be withdrawn, that the law be complied with, that the judgments of the Buenos Aires justice be complied with so that the fleets that are contaminated are changed. He said that “obviously we are demanding a reduction in working hours to minimize the effects of all health factors, among which are asbestos, in our work environment.”
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
