Remembering lost, sick workers at GE
Sandy Lebeau’s husband Ron was 39 when he died of stomach cancer in 1995.
Ron worked for 20 years at General Electric in Peterborough in the armature department, where workers dipped motor components into a chemical bath.
After 15 years, Ron’s health deteriorated. He told his wife it was because of daily exposure to carcinogens; he didn’t expect to live long enough to retire from GE.
He was correct: Ron Lebeau died five years later, leaving a wife and two teenage daughters.
“He was aware of what was happening,” his widow said. “But when it’s happening, what do you do? He had a family to feed.”
Sandy Lebeau was one of about 25 people who marched outside GE on Friday; all of them carried portraits of their deceased loved ones.
The gathering was meant to honour the National Day of Mourning for workers.
From there, people proceeded to City Hall for the local labour council’s Day of Mourning ceremony. A total of about 80 people were there.
“We talked about accountability – and how GE has accepted no responsibility,” said Marion Burton.
Burton, president of the Peterborough and District Labour Council, also co-chairs a local group that wants compensation for families of former GE workers. It’s called Occupational and Environmental Health Coalition – Peterborough.
Some widows and sick former employees have received compensation from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), over the years.
Others–suchasLebeau–havebeen rejected for lack of proof that the cancer came from working at GE.
No comment was available from GE Friday.
The gathering outside the plant was co-organized by the Health Coalition and by the producer of a forthcoming documentary about former GE workers.
The documentary, called Widows of Asbestos, is slated for release in about a year.
Natasha Luckhardt of Toronto is producing it, with help from local filmmaker Rob Viscardis.
Luckhardt, 27, has family and friends in the labour movement in Peterborough – that’s how she found out about the GE story, five years ago.
“I said, ‘How is it that no one is talking about this?’” she said.
At the time, she was a student at McMaster University. The topic interested her so much, she wrote her master’s thesis about it.
The thesis focused on the survivors and how difficult it is for them to get compensation.
Luckhardt’s thesis advisor thought it was so good it should be turned into a book – but Luckhardt wanted to turn it into a film instead.
“I knew the people had to be seen – they’re so dynamic,” she said. “They’re very strong and empowered.”
It was her idea to gather people outside the GE plant on Friday, all of them carrying portraits of those they lost.
“The idea was to show the human cost of occupational disease,” she said.
Sandy Lebeau said it felt good to stand in solidarity with others who lost family members.
She also lost her father, Patrick Collins, to cancer; he’d worked for 40 years as a spray painter at GE before he developed lung cancer. He was 73 when he died.
Although WSIB has rejected Lebeau’s claim for compensation, she has re-applied. She’s not willing to give up.
Luckhardt said that kind of resilience comes through in her oncamera interviews with people.
“They’re so positive,” she said of the widows. “They’re fighters.”
NOTE: Day of Mourning was marked Friday morning with a flag lowering outside City Hall, with remarks by Erin Harrison, Ontario region director of the Canadian Labour Congress, Coun. Keith Riel, MPP Jeff Leal and MP Maryam Monsef. That event, with about 75 people, was organized by the Peterborough and District Labour Council.