Canadian Johns-Manville Notices to Employees on Contract Talks and the Asbestos Strike (1949)

Two notices Canadian Johns-Manville posted for its employees at Asbestos, Quebec. In a bilingual progress report of January 14, 1949, the company said the Federation had called off contract negotiations because of its practice of posting reports after each meeting. In a notice "To All Employees" of February 28, 1949, it said the strike was in its 13th day and had been declared illegal by the provincial government, described how the union had taken over the company's properties on February 14 until the provincial police helped it regain them, and wrote that "there is nothing to be gained by the continuance of this strike."

What it shows

These are the company's side of the Asbestos Strike of 1949. Neither notice mentions dust or working conditions. In April the Asbestos Textile Institute heard that there was no basis for an early settlement of the strike (ATI minutes).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Strike by J-M Canada; work place conditions reported very dusty.

Editor's note: J-M's description says workplace conditions were reported very dusty. Neither strike notice in this file mentions dust or working conditions.