On March 18, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a final rule to prohibit ongoing uses of chrysotile asbestos, the only known form of asbestos currently used in or imported to the United States.
Statement from AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) rule to protect workers:
“Today’s groundbreaking rule by the EPA is the first final rule to protect workers under the amended Toxic Substance Control Act. This action once more shows the deep commitment of the Biden administration to ensure working people remain safe and healthy on the job.
“This rule is a landmark protection for workers, banning and phasing out all current uses and imports of chrysotile asbestos, and eliminating these exposures in workplaces and throughout the supply chain. While a critical step forward, this does not eliminate all types of asbestos fibers and is only the first half of the EPA’s plans to address worker asbestos exposures, including the tens of thousands of workers—many firefighters, construction and manufacturing workers—exposed to “legacy” asbestos throughout our old buildings and infrastructure. We urge the EPA to move swiftly to address those risks as well.
“Unions have been sounding the alarm about this dangerous substance for decades. Today’s action will undoubtedly save lives and prevent countless exposures that endanger working families.
“We applaud the administration for its unrelenting focus on making workplaces safer so that families can have confidence that when loved ones go to work they will return home safely at the end of their shifts.”
North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) President Sean McGarvey issued the following statement:
“NABTU applauds the Biden Administration’s issuance of the monumentally important rule banning the use of chrysotile asbestos. Construction unions have historically been the hardest hit by diseases caused by asbestos, and it is estimated hundreds of thousands of Americans have lost their lives due to this toxin. This new Environmental Protection Agency rule is welcomed to ensure that chrysotile asbestos will be phased out of all current uses, benefitting not just workers in those industries that are still using asbestos, but also workers with exposure throughout the supply chain.
“Construction workers who build, maintain, and demolish buildings in those industries will be saved from potentially life-ending exposures. NABTU and its affiliates have been advocating this ban for decades. It’s taken President Biden’s Administration to finally listen to science and get this scourge out of use in the United States of America.
“Thank you, President Biden, for all you have done to protect and uplift America’s construction workers and for moving forward on this ban that will protect workers. This incredible step forward does not end the fight to get asbestos out of our workplaces, though; construction workers continue to be exposed to asbestos that’s been put in place since the 1800s in various construction materials across all industries. While these “legacy” exposures will continue to happen, NABTU continues to support the Environmental Protection Agency’s rulemaking efforts on legacy asbestos.”
Tristin Amezcua-Hogan is the Editor of The Labor Beacon and a member of LIUNA Local 264. Tristin also serves as the Director of Communications for the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO and the Chair of the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance.
Tristin grew up as the son of a UA Local 669 member in Tecumseh, KS and the great-nephew of George C. Amis, longtime leader of the United Rubberworkers (now USW Local 307) in Kansas. Growing up in rural Kansas as the child of teen parents, Tristin quickly came to appreciate the life-changing benefit of a union job.
Tristin and his partner, Rebeca Amezcua-Hogan, are residents of the Westside, Kansas City, MO's historic Mexican neighborhood. They are proud members of Kansas City's New Reform Temple.
