Union boss Eric Holmes is quitting his job because he is suffering from asbestosis.

Mr Holmes, the island’s regional officer for Unite, has stage one chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), brought on by working with asbestos in a shipyard as an apprentice aged 18.

He told the Courier: ’We were originally told it wasn’t harmful but I remember us all being told a while later of the risks.

’To be honest, my health isn’t the best. I’ve got a good few years left but it is unfair to stay on and not be able to give it my fullest.

’I know the path I’m on, I’ve had family in the past die from asbestosis, at the moment there isn’t a shadow showing on X-rays, but I made the decision with my family to step down.’

Mr Holmes says at his age of 59, turning 60 in April, his socialist belief is as strong as ever. He has always had a sense of right and wrong, for fighting battles for those who are weaker than others and that is what he will be most proud of from his career.

He says whoever takes over will be able to rely on him for assistance in a strictly part- time capacity and believes they face a tough time ahead.

’We have gone back to an escalation of privatisation, driven by the Chamber of Commerce.

’This government is not investing in the public sector, which is portrayed poorly.

’It does, however, lack investment by government which means services must go, eventually it comes to the public to decide what they want.’

Mr Holmes went on to offer the example of the jobs at risk at University College Isle of Man, which was reported in the Isle of Man Examiner earlier this week as proof of lack of investment in the public sector.

He has previously called for asbestos compensation claims to be made easier in the island following the case of Peter Quirk, who died in 2014 after contracting mesothelioma due to being exposed to asbestos while working for Heron & Brearley.