The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi is calling for comprehensive redress for timber workers, whānau and communities affected by decades of exposure to the highly toxic chemical pentachlorophenol, known as PCP.
The call follows a new Human Rights Commission report examining the intergenerational consequences of PCP use in New Zealand’s timber industry and the lasting impact on workers, their families, communities and whenua.
NZCTU Vice-President Māori Aubrey Wilkinson says the union movement supports the report’s findings and wants affected workers to receive specialist healthcare, fair compensation and formal recognition of the harm experienced by successive generations.
PCP was widely used within the timber industry between 1930 and 1988, exposing generations of workers to a chemical now associated with serious health concerns.
Exposure could occur through inhalation and skin contact, as well as contaminated work clothing and workplace practices where adequate health and safety safeguards were absent.
For workers, exposure did not necessarily end when they left the mill.
Contaminated clothing could be carried home, potentially extending the consequences of industrial chemical use beyond workplaces and into households and communities.
The NZCTU says kaimahi Māori, their communities and whenua suffered disproportionate harm, making the PCP legacy an issue not only of occupational health and safety but also of equity, human rights and Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
The union organisation says those failures must be acknowledged as part of any meaningful response.
ACC barriers under scrutiny
Access to ACC support is another major concern identified by the NZCTU.
Despite research linking PCP exposure with a range of health effects, the union movement says affected workers continue to encounter significant barriers when attempting to secure ACC cover.
That can have serious consequences.
Without accepted cover, workers may struggle to access the treatment, rehabilitation and compensation they believe they require for illnesses and injuries associated with workplace exposure.
The NZCTU is therefore calling for a response that looks beyond individual claims and recognises the scale and historic nature of the exposure.
It wants specialist healthcare to be available to those affected, alongside fair compensation and recognition that the consequences can extend into whānau and subsequent generations.
Māori communities carried a heavy burden
The impact on Māori is a central part of the union’s response.
Many Māori worked in forestry, sawmills and timber-processing communities where PCP was used, while contamination also affected whenua surrounding industrial sites.
The NZCTU says this means the legacy cannot be reduced to a historical workplace safety issue.
It involves kaimahi, whānau, mokopuna, whenua and communities that have lived with the consequences long after the chemical stopped being widely used.
For Wilkinson, the experience demonstrates why strong workplace health and safety regulation matters.
The fundamental principle is that earning a living should not result in workers becoming sick, their whānau being exposed to hazardous substances, or consequences being carried by future generations.
Decades-long fight for recognition
The NZCTU is also acknowledging the long-running work of Sawmill Workers Against Poisons, known as SWAP, and campaigner Joe Harawira.
Their advocacy has kept attention on workers exposed to PCP and pushed for recognition, accountability and justice over many years.
The latest Human Rights Commission report provides renewed momentum to that campaign and increases pressure on the Government to determine what redress should now look like.
For affected communities, recognition alone will not necessarily resolve the consequences of historic exposure.
The NZCTU wants the Government to support the Human Rights Commission’s recommendations and establish meaningful redress for those who have carried the health, financial and intergenerational burden.
It is also calling for the lessons of PCP to shape how New Zealand approaches hazardous substances and occupational health today.
A warning from the past
The PCP story highlights the potentially enormous cost when workplace hazards are not identified, regulated or addressed quickly enough.
Industrial decisions made decades ago can leave consequences that continue long after factories close, chemicals are prohibited and employers disappear.
For workers who became sick, whānau who believe they were exposed through contaminated clothing, and communities dealing with contaminated whenua, the effects cannot simply be consigned to industrial history.
The Human Rights Commission report now places the issue back before the Government.
The challenge will be whether acknowledgment is followed by practical action — through healthcare, ACC access, compensation and other forms of redress — and whether the failures identified lead to stronger protection for today’s workforce.
For the NZCTU, the lesson is clear: no job should leave a legacy of illness that follows workers home, damages whenua and reaches into the lives of their mokopuna.
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