Risks reported on 14th July 2007 that a six-year block on asbestos disease payouts from the notorious asbestos manufacturer Turner & Newall (T&N) had ended, with the first settlements coming through.
Unite's Amicus section says its members are at last receiving compensation from the defunct asbestos company more than six years after their claims were first lodged. The union says it was also able to broker a deal that allowed members to receive payments without incurring penalties from the government's compensation recovery unit All claims against the company were frozen in 2001 after T&N and its US parent company Federal Mogul went into administration.
Since then claimants and their families have been waiting for the administrator to reach agreement with Federal Mogul's creditors and insurers. In October last year the courts approved a deal to give reduced awards to claimants.
Unite joint general secretary Derek Simpson said: 'It has been a long, hard fight to obtain compensation for Unite members who worked in the former asbestos factories for T&N.' Tony Whitston, coordinator of Greater Manchester Asbestos Victims Support Group, said: 'Hundreds of former T&N workers have waited more than six years to receive compensation. Sadly many have died during the delay. Now a procedure is in place to pay compensation to victims and their families.' T&N administrator Kroll faced angry criticism last year for claiming an 'obscene' £70 million in fees while acting as administrator for the firm, part of US bankruptcy-of-convenience engineering giant Federal Mogul . Asbestos claimants, cancer sufferers and bereaved relatives will on average receive less than a quarter of the compensation they might normally have expected.
www.tuc.org.uk/risks
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