Hitting Hardie's bottom line

In the latest moves against James Hardie Industries, Sydney 
City, Parramatta and Leichhardt Councils have signed up to a 
union campaign to boycott James Hardie products. Several other 
local authorities — including Bankstown, the Blue Mountains and 
Waverley — have the issue on their agendas as community anger 
over the compensation rip-off grows.

The move was sparked by a joint union action, with the building 
and manufacturing unions approaching the NSW Labor Council last 
month calling for community and workplace action against the one-
time blue chip company.

Seven mayors attended last week's CFMEU (Construction, Forestry, 
Mining and Energy Union) delegates meeting and pledged their, or 
their council's, backing for the boycott.

Bankstown Mayor Helen Westwood said the campaign would affect 
James Hardie's "bottom line — and that seems to be what they 
respond to".

Following the meeting, CFMEU delegates marched en masse on the 
inquiry into James Hardie's corporate behaviour where more 
sensational allegations were being made.

Michael Slattery, QC, told the senate commission of inquiry 
Hardie had deliberately kept trust fund directors "starved" of 
information and isolated from actuaries.

The fund, MRCF (Medical Research and Compensation Fund), was set 
up by Hardies to control assets available to victims of its 
asbestos products when it moved to the Netherlands.

James Hardie told the Supreme Court it would leave behind assets 
worth $1.9 billion for use of creditors. A year later it 
cancelled that arrangement, without informing the court, 
shareholders, the stock market, or asbestos sufferers.

Actuaries estimate that with Hardie having gone Dutch, the trust 
fund it left behind will fall as much as $2.4 billion short of 
meeting compensation claims.

Slattery, acting for MRCF, referred to a lawyer's letter that had 
been changed by a James Hardie executive so victims would not be 
informed of plans to remove assets.

The support of local councils came after the AMWU (Australian 
Manufacturing Workers' Union) called for the State Government to 
bar Hardie's products from its sites, and to pass legislation 
that would force the company to meet compensation claims.

NSW Premier Bob Carr said last week he was "inclined to support" 
a ban by state government contractors.

Leichhardt Mayor Alice Murphy said her council would boycott 
Hardie company products until "full compensation was guaranteed 
to existing and future victims of asbestos related diseases".

Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, and her Parramatta counterpart, 
Julia Finn, confirmed their councils had voted to support the 
boycott.