Asbestos Multinationals Gag Asbestos Campaigner

http://www.hazards.org/asbestos/fernanda.htm

Hazards Magazine

February 26, 2004

A Brazilian safety inspector, known nationwide for her passionate campaign on behalf of the country's asbestos disease victims, is facing trial for offending the honour of a former Brazilian government minister.

Asbestos campaigners say the action - which has been stalled until September because the presiding judge has been jailed on corruption charges - is an attempt to silence Giannasi. Charges were dropped after an earlier court challenge brought by European asbestos giant Eternit six years ago.

Giannasi said: "Brazilian justice is controlled by powerful corporate interests." She said the latest developments were evidence "of the lengths to which some sections of the Brazilian establishment will go to protect negligent corporations."

The latest charges say Giannasi insulted an ex-Labour minister who supported a "yellow" trade union created by asbestos multinational Saint Gobain. In 1985, the company union illegally replaced an independent union which had organised a strike at the company's biggest factory.

Giannasi has received several death threats. After pressure from the asbestos industry, the Labour Ministry has confined Giannasi to her office and banned her from travelling or inspecting workplaces.

Three Brazilian labour inspectors were murdered at work earlier this year.

More information
International Ban Asbestos Secretariat report

You can help

Write to the Brazilian president Luiz Inacio LULA da Silva and to the Labour and Justice ministries (addresses and email details below), asking them to assist an award-winning international safety activists.

Sample letters from:

Jim Mowatt National Secretary, TGWU, UK
Laurie Kazan Allen International Ban Asbestos Secretariat
Jim Brophy Occupational Health Centre for Ontario Workers.

1. Presidente Luiz Inacio LULA da Silva

pr@planalto.gov.br and secom@planalto.gov.br
Fax: (55- 61)226-7566
Palacio do Planalto
70150-900-Brasilia - DF

2. Ministry of Justice

Ministro da Justiça
Dr. Marcio Thomaz Bastos
gabinetemj@mj.gov.br

3. Labor Ministry/Ministro do Trabalho

Ministro do Trabalho
Ricardo Berzoini
ministro@mte.gov.br
Fax: (55-61) 226-3577
Esplanada dos Ministerios - 1o. andar - Edificio Anexo B - Bloco F - Sala
147 - 70059-900 - Brasilia - DF

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26 February 2004

President Luiz Inacio LULA da Silva
Palacio do Planalto
70150-900-Brasilia - DF

Dear President Luiz Inacio LULA da Silva

You may remember me, because I used to sit on the Central Committee of the International Metalworkers' Federation, in which you were a most welcome participant.

Today I am writing to you as the Chief Negotiator for the British and Irish workers in the asbestos industry.

We are profoundly disturbed to learn of the predicament confront Labour Inspector, Fernanda Giannasi. From reports we have received from all around the World, it would appear that there have been serious attempts in Brazil to silence Ms Giannasi. We understand that criminal charges have been taken out against Ms Giannasi and that she has had her Inspector's right to inspect workplaces withdrawn.

If true, this is a matter of deep concern and outrage. Accordingly, I am writing to you, as the President of your great nation, to exercise your powers and personal authority to have all criminal charges against Ms Giannasi formally dropped, and that you do everything within your influence to allow Ms Giannasi to do what she does best. That is, assist Brazilian workers to achieve safe working and living conditions for themselves and their families.

Wishing you every success in your Presidency.

In solidarity

JIM MOWATT
National Secretary

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President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
Brasilia, Brazil

24 February, 2004

Re: Labor Inspector Fernanda Giannasi

Dear President Luiz Inacio LULA da Silva,

As a public health campaigner based in the UK, I have had the privilege to work with Brazilian citizens on several occasions. This work has focused on the problems arising from the uncontrolled use of asbestos which has caused much illness and many deaths in Brazil. During my time in Brazil, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of your countrymen and women and impressed by their determination and tenacity to assist their fellow workers. I was thrilled when you became President of Brazil because I felt confident that as a former metal worker you would be sensitive to the needs of those who had been exposed to asbestos during their working lives.

Although there is no national data on the asbestos death toll in Brazil, I know that at just one factory in Osasco, there have been hundreds of asbestos-related deaths. The plight of asbestos victims has been brought to public attention by the work of the national asbestos association: ABREA. One of the founding members of ABREA is Labor Inspector Fernanda Giannasi, the most dedicated and compassionate public servant I have ever encountered. Recent developments involving Ms. Giannasi are the subject of my letter. Inspector Fernanda Giannasi is being sued for her support of disadvantaged Brazilian workers. Ex-Labor Minister Almir Pazzianotto Pinto has issued legal proceedings against her for statements she made which, he claims, offended his honour. This case has stalled because the presiding Federal Judge Joao Carlos Da Rocha Mattos is now in jail. The Judge was arrested during Operation Anaconda, which has revealed a huge scandal involving judicial corruption and organized crime. The temporary judge who was in court on February 17, 2004 did not feel inclined to replace Mattos and announced that no further hearings would be held until September.

A criminal case such as the one brought by Pinto against a public servant performing her job to the best of her ability would never be sanctioned by an impartial judiciary in a democratic country. The fact that the Judge selected to administer justice in this case has been accused of gross corruption and links with organized crime is further evidence, if it were needed, of the lengths to which some sections of the establishment will go to silence Ms. Giannasi. The persecution of Inspector Giannasi is a leftover from the nightmare years of the military dictatorship and not a worthy act of a government dedicated to creating a more just society. As President of Brazil and head of the Workers' Political Party, I urge you to take a personal interest in this case and ensure that not only are all charges against Ms. Giannasi dropped but that the Minister of Labor, who has withdrawn the Inspector's right to inspect workplaces and confined her to the Sao Paulo office, allows the Inspector to assist Brazilian workers achieve safe working and living conditions for themselves and their families.

Yours sincerely,

Laurie Kazan-Allen (Mrs.)
Coordinator: International Ban Asbestos Secretariat

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Dear President Luiz Inacio LULA da Silva,

I am writing you today as an admirer and supporter of your great cause in Brazil. In the last year I have travelled to Brazil twice to participate with trade unionists and public health advocates who are developing a programme to document occupational health problems in your country. This experience has educated me about the enormous problems your government faces in its efforts to advance the rights of ordinary people. I would not distract you from these important tasks except to alert you that a great injustice is being done to a champion of the Brazilian health and safety movement, Ms. Fernanda Giannasi. Because of her efforts to protect workers exposed to asbestos she is now being harassed by the multinational company, Saint-Gobain, in a court presided by Judge Rocha Mattos.

Ms. Giannasi is world renowned for her work to prevent asbestos related disease. She is now being threatened because of her exemplary commitment to protect the health of Brazilian workers. She was exposing companies whose work practices in Brazil would have brought legal action against them in their home nations. For her efforts in public health she is now being charged in court and silenced by her employer, the Ministry of Labour.

Asbestos is responsible for the premature death of hundreds of thousands of workers throughout the globe each year. Sadly, my own country, Canada, continues to assist this discredited industry and thus, allowing it to remain viable through government subsidies and diplomatic support, while thousands of workers in developing countries continue to be exposed. Almost no company in North America will use asbestos any longer because of the billions of dollars in lawsuits that are pending particularly in United States courts. In Europe, asbestos is recognized as so poisonous that it is literally banned. The industry's only home now is in developing countries that have been pressured and blackmailed into accepting this poison in order to feed their citizens.

Our workers' occupational health clinic in Sarnia, Ontario has registered hundreds of workers with occupational diseases caused by their exposures to asbestos. This week one of Canada's national newspapers will feature a story about the devastation our community is now facing because of the use of asbestos in the petrochemical industry. So seeing first hand the horror asbestos produces, I know the importance of Ms Giannasi's efforts to prevent Brazilian workers from facing the same fate and fear that her silencing will only permit hundreds of workers to be exposed to this powerful carcinogen.

The global movement to ban the use of asbestos has roots in almost every region of the globe. In every country workers and their families are suffering from exposure to this mineral. We ask you as a champion of the voiceless throughout the Americas to use your influence to stop the attempts by officials within your government to silence Ms. Gianassi. She is one most respected international spokespersons for our movement and efforts to suppress her are viewed by the Canadian trade unionists and the public health movement as an attack against the rights of workers everywhere to protect their health.

I ask your Excellency to protect those without power and return Ms. Gianassi to her rightful position.

I remain,

Sincerely yours,

James Brophy
Executive Director
Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers - Sarnia

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Jonathan Bennett
Public Affairs Director, New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health
275 7th Ave., 8th floor, New York, N.Y. 10001
jbennett@nycosh.org
Tel: 212-627-3900 ext. 14
Fax: 212-627-9812

*** POSTED ON FEBRUARY 27, 2004 ***