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15 July, 2005
ICEM affiliate CFMEU was forefront during mid-September international actions protesting building materials firm James Hardie’s dodge of asbestos liabilities in Australia. The company in 2001 shifted its headquarters from Sydney to The Netherlands in a move seen as cutting its liability for over 60 years of asbestos exposure to workers in Australia. On 15 September, 20,000 workers rallied across Australia—still home to the vast number of Hardie shareholders—while a contingent of mesothelioma victims with trade union leaders including the CFMEU’s Lindsay Fraser went to Amsterdam for James Hardie’s AGM on 17 September. A damning report on the company was issued September 21 by an Australian state government inquiry, which found that the chief executive had misled investors and the company developed a “culture of denial.”