| Letter From a Brother
The following letter was sent to the Journal by Local 278, Corpus
Christi, Texas, Business Manager Robert Shake. It brings a sobering
first-person account of the damage wrought by asbestos on countless
workers.
| February 26, 2004 To the IBEW Journal:
 |
| Robert Shake |
I never thought I would
become one of the people I was always trying to help since
I became involved in the labor movement. You know, the guy
willing to show up every day to work on a construction job,
put in a good day’s work for good wages and benefits,
but is lied to, or not told about the dangers of materials
he works with. Now I am one of those guys. I have been diagnosed
with mesothelioma, cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.
I started working in the trade in 1961. Along about 1973 they
started telling us that for some years asbestos was known
to be dangerous. I can remember before 1973 I was working
on jobs where insulation was being torn from pipes, asbestos
was floating in the air like snowflakes and about all you
could do was go to the rag box and get one big enough to tie
around your face.
I realize that even today
there are materials out there that are affecting workers in
a bad way and somebody is covering up just to make a bigger
profit. As I am writing this letter it remains to be seen
if I can be treated. If not, it is quite possible I might
not be able to vote in the next general election. I so desperately
want to vote against the current administration what with
their trashing OSHA’S work force ergonomic recommendations
after a ten year study, their cutting EPA funding, and saying
it is okay to have the polluters police themselves. They are
no better than the deceiving bastards that withheld information
from us 30 years ago.
I belong to the best union
in the world and the best labor movement in the world. Please
think of what really matters when you vote.
Best wishes for a better workplace
tomorrow.
Robert Shake |
|
IBEWCURRENTS
April
2004 IBEW Journal
 J. R. MacDonald
Brothers Are Back Home
Jeffrey Lodge has returned from Afghanistan to re-join
his co-workers in Local 490, Dover, New Hampshire. Brother Lodge
won an honorable mention in the 8th Annual IBEW photo contest
(Dec. 2003). His picture showed him standing in front of an IBEW
banner with other union brothers serving in Afghanistan. Lodge
returned home with handcrafted rugs for the Local 490 union hall.
They were his thank-you gift to local members who paid his union
dues and sent him "goodie baskets" of candy, maple syrup,
playing cards, local newsletters and the IBEW Journal during his
tour.
J. R. MacDonald, Local 1984 member, has returned
to his locomotive electrician job at CSX Transportation in Waycross,
Georgia, after serving two years in Iraq with the 224th Joint
Communications Support Squadron. His tour of two years and three
months included four months in Quatar.
|
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