29/05/2008
The Executive Council of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), Canada’s central labour confederation, voted through a resolution on 23 May instructing the CLC to pressure the federal government to phase out the use and export of asbestos. The resolution includes a proposal for economic transition measures for asbestos industry workers.

Of the thirty-odd CLC Executive Council members, only the President of the Quebec Federation of Labour (QFL), Michel Arsenault, and the National Director of the steelworkers union, Ken Neumann, voted against.

The QFL, Quebec's biggest union federation, issued a press release questioning the urgency of the decision, described by QFL President Michel Arsenault as "A premature gesture that does not take into account scientific opinion on the issue and opens up questions on the use of other materials". The trade union leader believes that hundreds of jobs could now be threatened.

Sources: La Presse, QFL press release