Awards for Asbestos Campaigners
Kathy Gaffney and Laurie Kazan-Allen were amongst five activists whose work was today (November 16) recognized by the Construction Safety Campaign (CSC) at its Annual General Meeting in Birmingham. The Robert Tressell Awards were presented during a ceremony which took place this afternoon at the Priory Rooms in Bull Street. These honors, named after the author of the renowned 1914 socialist novel “The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists,” are bestowed for services to working people.
The citation for Ms. Gaffney highlighted her health and safety work, her organization of Workers Memorial Day events and her participation in the founding of the West Midlands Asbestos Victims Support group, a Birmingham-based group which provides a lifeline for asbestos sufferers and their families.
 The CSC's John Flanagan presenting the award to Kathy Gaffney. |
Ms. Kazan-Allen received her award for “her global campaign against asbestos, her editorship of the British Asbestos Newsletter and her galvanising of campaigners globally to one day deliver an asbestos free world for the future generations of mankind.” “I am,” she said “honoured by this recognition from construction workers, a group with one of the highest rates of asbestos-related disease. The CSC and its members are fully aware of the ongoing risks posed by occupational asbestos exposure and have played a frontline role in the campaign for asbestos justice in the UK and abroad.”
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Other asbestos activists who have been similarly honoured over the last decade include Alan Dalton, Simon Pickvance, Paula Walker, Annie Thebaud-Mony and Michael Lees.
November 16, 2013
