Union Complaints and J-M Correspondence on Dust in the Manville Textile "A" Building (1957)

Nine papers from January 1957 to May 1958 on dust in "A" Building, the textile building at J-M's Manville, New Jersey, plant. They begin with a letter from Edward Macko, president of Federal Labor Union No. 21626, to M. F. Naylor, J-M's manager of industrial relations, listing five complaints and saying that conditions were "getting worse than they were back 4 or 5 years ago": surveys always came back "Not To Bad," but the workers "know that they are eating more dust today than before. Also doctors are telling them that they should get out of this dust." Plant managers met on January 21 and set out a list of dust control projects, and that August the union was invited to pick the spots for new dust counts in the card room.

What it shows

Before the card room survey began, C. L. Sheckler, J-M's safety engineer at Manville, warned Naylor in a confidential memo that the "interested parties" would surely ask for the results, and that if the counts were over the limit, "we have probably forfeited any future legal defense against claims of non-occupational illnesses which purport to be aggravated by dust." H. M. Jackson, manager of J-M's Industrial Health Program, then recommended taking at least three samples at each station, first teaching the union committee "the basic concepts of a pneumoconiosis producing situation," and giving the union no copy of the results: "I do not believe that such would be of any constructive value to them." The survey, analyzed by Travelers, found two of 44 samples over New Jersey's limit and five over J-M's own standard, and Sheckler called the results "favorable." A May 1958 memo says conditions in the spinning department were still unsatisfactory. For the building's earlier history, see the Stevens memo on reducing exposure in "A" Building.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Edward Macko (President of a local Manville labor union) writes to M.F. Naylor (Manager of Industrial Relations, Manville) on 1/15/57, complaining about the dusty conditions in which employees in "A" Building (Textiles) must work. He states that although J-M tells the employees that the conditions are not too bad, "they know that they are eating more dust today than before. Also doctors are telling them that they should get out of this dust." Macko requests some action on this matter. Personnel from the Manville plant meet on 1/21/57 to discuss the various complaints cited in the letter of 1/15/57 and remedies.

One of the areas that the union is complaining about is the Card Room. In order to evaluate the performance of the Card Room Dust House, U.D. Torrance (Manville) writes on 8/6/57, asking Macko to determine locations for dust sampling, and on 10/8/57 Macko responds. C.L. Sheckler, on 10/9/57, tells M.F. Naylor that no doubt there will be a request for the results of these studies by the interested parties and if the results are in excess, "we have probably forfeited any future legal defense against claims of non-occupational illnesses which purport to be aggravated by dust."

H.M. Jackson writes to Sheckler, 10/18/57, recommending that certain steps be taken to insure the validity of the survey and that J-M indoctrinate the union committee in the interpretation of survey results. Jackson recommends that the survey results not be given to the union representatives for various reasons. C.L. Sheckler reports back to U.D. Torrance, 12/4/57, with the results of the industrial hygiene survey of the Card Room. (Two or three samples were taken at each location so as to determine average working conditions.) Forty-four samples were taken; only two were over NJ's standards and five were above J-M's standards.

Editor's note: J-M's description says U. D. Torrance wrote to Macko on August 6, 1957, asking him to choose sampling locations. The August 6 memo was addressed to C. L. Sheckler, with a copy to Macko; it asked Sheckler to arrange the dust counts and said the union would choose the locations.

Related documents

• C. H. Stevens to W. C. Seeds on Dust Collection in the Manville A Building (1955)