CFMEU campaign prompts Mitre 10 to stop selling killer stone

Independent Hardware Group (IHG) has become the latest major business to announce it will cut ties with engineered stone in response to the CFMEU’s campaign. IHG, which includes Mitre 10, Home Hardware, Total Tools and Hardings, will remove all engineered stone products from displays at its company-owned retail outlets. It will encourage member stores to do the same. IHG joins Bunnings and IKEA in major retailers to announce a phase out of engineered stone, which contains silica dust that kills workers through diseases like silicosis. CFMEU National Secretary Zach Smith welcomed IHG’s decision. “We are now seeing a tidal wave of support behind a total ban of engineered stone,” he said. “Major retailers are confirming what the CFMEU has said from day one: this is an unnecessary product that is killing Australian workers. “Businesses that once profited from the deaths of workers are now conceding they have lost any social licence to cash in on deadly engineered stone. “Federal, state and territory governments have no choice but to back a full ban on the import, use and manufacture of engineered stone. “While next month’s meeting of work health and safety ministers should be a formality, the CFMEU will not rest until a ban is 100% locked in. “I want to pay tribute to all the CFMEU members including dust disease sufferers who have stood up for the lives of workers.”