The widow of a worker who died as a result of asbestos: "Metro has ignored us"
The widow of a worker from Metro de Madrid who died of an occupational disease due to asbestos exposure said Sunday that the company has "mistreated" them, "ignored" them and "abandoned" them.
María Eugenia Martín faces with "hope in justice" the trial that is celebrated tomorrow in the Court of the Social number 10 of Madrid as a result of the demand presented / displayed by her husband, Julian MR, deceased the 4 of October of 2018, to demand compensation of almost 400,000 euros to the company.
Julián was the first worker of the company who was recognized as an occupational disease due to exposure to asbestos in his job and the first to file a claim against Metro de Madrid, which his heirs have continued.
In statements to Efe, the widow explained that Julian began to notice the first symptoms of the disease in February 2017, when he began to "feel pain", and in March or April of the same year he went to his doctor, who initially thought He had a contracture and prescribed medication to treat it, but "the pain was going to get worse and on a simple x-ray they saw that he had lung cancer."
At the end of September 2017, the National Institute of Social Security recognized him as an occupational disease due to exposure to asbestos and in January 2018 he recognized absolute permanent disability.
Martín recalled that the Labor Inspectorate has issued Metro de Madrid a violation report for failing to recognize the professional illness of her husband, which is paralyzed by the General Labor Directorate of the Community of Madrid, pending the outcome of the investigation opened by the Office of the Prosecutor on the presence of asbestos in the Madrid suburban.
"I would have liked that this had never happened, that my husband was alive and that we did not have to claim either Metro or anyone," he stressed.
"We have felt completely mistreated, neglected and abandoned by Metro," stressed the widow, who said that "no responsible for Metro Madrid has called at any time to inquire about the health of Julian" and regretted that not even they will send "a wreath of flowers" after 39 years of work in the company.
"Neither the manager of the Occupational Health Service of Metro de Madrid, Enrique Cambra, nor the CEO of the company, Borja Carabante, nor the Minister of Transport, Rosalía Gonzalo, have been interested in the health of Julian during his illness", has remarked.
After the opinion of the Assembly's investigation committee on the presence of asbestos in Metro de Madrid, which shows that there has been "incapacity, negligence and concealment" in the management of this problem, management is not trying to mitigate the risks involved This material toxic to the health of workers, has opined.
Every week, he added, new pieces with asbestos are discovered, without the workers having been provided with the protective equipment approved by the European Union to handle this material.
He thanked the unions of the suburban Madrid morning call for work stoppages and a concentration in the Plaza de los Cubos in coincidence with the trial.
So far, there are four cases of workers of the company with occupational disease as a result of exposure to fibers from asbestos, of which two died last year (one of them Julián and another on May 24).
