The death came before the sensational ruling of the Nuoro labor court judge, who ordered INAIL to compensate a former Enichem worker in Ottana, Michelino Rubanu, who died at the age of 69 last February, suffering from "follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and obstructive pulmonary disease due to initial asbestosis" .
We had to wait about 9 years. Years of struggles and battles carried out by workers and organized by the Italian association exposed to asbestos. But the sentence has arrived, and it opens a way also for the other workers of Ottana, who aim to have the professional diseases found in over 40 years of work in the factory recognized .
The sentence was pronounced by the labor judge of the Nuoro court Paolo Dau last October 15. It recognizes Michelino Rubanu, originally from Orgosolo (from 1974 to 2015 a stoker at the Ottana thermoelectric plant), as having an occupational disease, administratively denied in 2016 by Inail .
Inail was therefore ordered to compensate the damage by constituting the annuity provided by the compulsory insurance to the victim's family. The judge essentially sanctioned the principle that benzene, naphtha and trichloroethylene, substances used by many workers, including Rubanu, are among the main causal agents of the diagnosed pathology .
Satisfied are the lawyer Sabina Contu, who has been working alongside the former Enichem workers for years to obtain recognition of their rights, and Francesco Tolu, promoter of many battles to see the professional illness recognized for the workers of Ottana.
Satisfaction was also expressed by Michelino Rubanu's widow and one of his sons, Marco Rubanu, who promised: «We will continue to fight alongside others to see the just demands recognized» .