For decades, asbestos was hailed as a miracle material. Cheap, durable and nearly fireproof, it became the go-to insulator for boilers, steam pipes, shipbuilding, cement and power plants. Boilermakers worked with it daily, their hands and lungs exposed to its fine dust, never realizing that the very substance that made their work possible was slowly killing them. They wouldn’t know because asbestos manufacturers hid the truth.
But the dangers of asbestos weren’t unknown. As early as the 1920s, researchers suspected that prolonged exposure could be deadly. In 1929, the first workers’ compensation claim was filed against an asbestos manufacturer. Just four years later, Johns-Manville, one of the nation’s largest asbestos producers, secretly settled with 11 employees who had incurable lung disease. That settlement was kept under wraps for nearly half a century while workers continued to inhale toxic fibers.
By the 1970s, the truth could no longer be contained. A massive class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles, representing thousands of shipyard workers who had been exposed, claimed 15 manufacturers were suppressing information about asbestos’s dangers. By the ’70s, workers knew firsthand what the science was proving: that breathing in asbestos dust led to devastating illnesses, such as asbestosis, lung cancer, stomach and colon cancers, and the cruel disease of mesothelioma, a fatal cancer of the lung lining tied exclusively to asbestos exposure.
The toll was staggering. Between 1940 and 1980, more than 27 million American workers were exposed. For some, cancer appeared where the sweatband of a hard hat had pressed asbestos fibers into their skin. Others developed lung tissue that hardened into something resembling leather, making each breath a struggle.
Boilermakers, alongside other unions and health advocates, refused to remain silent. Partnering with researchers at the University of Southern California, they demonstrated that any level of exposure posed a risk. Their persistence helped push the federal government into action. In 1986, OSHA set its first workplace limit on asbestos exposure—0.2 fibers per cubic centimeter of air in an eight-hour shift. Nearly two decades later, the standard was cut to 0.1 fibers. Progress had been made, but only after years of relentless pressure from labor unions, including the Boilermakers.
The legal battles were intense. By the early 1980s, Johns-Manville faced more than 16,000 lawsuits and filed for bankruptcy. Trust funds were eventually created to provide some compensation to victims, but court delays meant many died before ever seeing justice. In 1990, Boilermakers out of Local 920 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, helped secure the largest asbestos settlement in federal shipyard history, winning millions for workers.
The story of asbestos is a reminder of what happens when corporations put profit before people and how hard workers must fight to protect themselves. Every safeguard in place today exists because unions like the Boilermakers raised their voices, demanded accountability and refused to let the truth stay buried.
Even today, labor unions must remain vigilant. Very recent attempts that threatened to walk back asbestos protections were only halted by a loud outcry from worker advocates. As in the past, change comes when working people stand together.
