Warning over asbestos compensationVictims of an asbestos-related condition may not receive the Government compensation they have been expecting, unions leaders have warned.
The message comes as sufferers of pleural plaques await a decision on their compensation arrangements after a Lords ruling denied a pay out in 2007.
However, since then, campaigners have pushed ministers to overturn the decision and, in 2008, the Government launched a consultation to query whether the Law Lords ruling should be altered.
The Government was only planning to compensate victims whose cases were lodged before October 2007, the construction workers union Ucatt claimed. According to the union the Government was against a pay out for public sector workers exposed to asbestos while employed in former nationalised heavy industries.
General secretary Alan Ritchie said: "The state employed these workers and exposed them to asbestos now the state must pay their compensation. A failure to do so is morally indefensible."
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