Zimbabwe: Workers to re-intensify campaign vs. asbestos

In an effort to re-intensify their campaign against the use of asbestos at workplaces, BWI’s trade union affiliates in Zimbabwe held a two-day workshop last 27-28 October. 

The trade unions admitted that focus on asbestos in the last two years has shifted to the COVID-19 pandemic and its immediate impact to workers and industries. With more and more countries now successfully managing the pandemic, the workers deemed that it is necessary to bring the focus back to its anti-asbestos campaign. 

In the said workshop, the trade unionists noted Zimbabwe’s lack of an asbestos-specific national policy. They concluded that this could be because of the government’s agnostic stance on asbestos and the listing of chrysotile asbestos in Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention. The trade unionists said that the Zimbabwean government together with employers continue to assert that white/chrysotile asbestos is safe and causes no real harm. 

The trade unionists also observed the lack of information on the health dangers imposed to workers by the use asbestos at workplaces. They deplored the glaring absence of medical information in Zimbabwe’s construction, cement, wood, timber, and forestry industries. 

As such, the trade unions are planning to launch a “multi-pronged asbestos campaign” that will raise workers and communities’ awareness on the ill-effects of asbestos use and push for policies leading to the ban of asbestos use at workplaces. 

In partnership with different stakeholders, they will also develop an “asbestos risk assessment/checklist” which workers and affected communities can use to establish accountability for compensation claims and help provide more evidence of asbestos’ health dangers and demystify the “safe asbestos” narrative. 

The workshop was attended by representatives from CLAWUZ, ZCATWU, GAPWUZ, and ZEWU.