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Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) plans soon to re-introduce the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution (FAIR) Act (S. 1125), which was deliberated in the Senate last year.

The bill would create a "fair and efficient system" to resolve claims of bodily injury caused by asbestos exposure.

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWE) officials believe the bill also will remove railroad workers' rights to sue employers for asbestos-related injuries under the Federal Employers' Liability Act
(FELA).

"As written, the bill [treats] rail workers differently than other workers in the private sector, who would receive three types of benefits: medical treatment, a subsistence allowance, and a lump-sum compensatory benefit over and above what workers' compensation provides," said BMWE officials in a prepared statement. "Rail workers will only receive one benefit because they are not covered by any workers' compensation statute other than FELA."

Railroad workers also are not covered by state workmen's compensation systems, said BLET officials.

"Railroads are already exempt from the big punitive damage awards other corporations must pay for asbestos, so they certainly don't need another special break at the expense of their workers," they said.