Ira I. Brought to Harold Boeschenstein of Owens-Corning on the Asbestos Workers Union and Asbestosis (1957)

A two-page letter of May 9, 1957, from Ira I. Brought, a Toledo consultant, to Harold Boeschenstein, president of Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation. Brought reports "two serious blows" dealt to the Fiberglas industry by the Asbestos Workers Union: a wage premium demanded by the New York local, and minutes of the union's Western States Conference, mailed to some twenty thousand members, saying that "the problems of Asbestosis and Silicosis were discussed at large" after one local reported that eleven members had died that year. Brought expected the statement to "cause an increasing amount of alarm throughout the country as to the health hazard."

What it shows

The union minutes Brought quotes say many of the men "had definite symptoms" of these hazards and that the union's International would look into the causes of asbestosis and lung disease "caused by fibrous materials." Brought's answer was a sales one: he urged that every branch sales office stay in "intimate and frequent contact" with union business agents, so that the company would learn at once of "unrest brewing in the local," and that trouble be reported so "remedial steps" could be taken. By 1957 the insulators themselves were raising asbestosis as a cause of death among their members.

About this copy

This is an Owens-Corning Fiberglas paper, not a Johns-Manville one, and the file does not show how J-M came to have it. J-M corresponded with many companies in the insulation business, which is probably how a copy reached its files, but that is a guess.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

Johns-Manville's own chronology of what the company knew describes this document as follows:

In a letter dated 5/9/57 from I.I. Brought to H. Boeschenstein, Brought discusses "two serious blows" dealt by the Asbestos Workers Union -- a wage premium and an awareness of the "problems" of asbestosis and silicosis. Brought is concerned that circulation of the information will cause alarm and refers to the recommendation made in his report of 1/15/45, that branch sales offices should develop better relationships with business agents in their territory so that they may become aware if "unrest that is brewing in their locals."