Document MobK9yX4L6EkBZjvkNopZ4xnk

!/3i Johns-Manville Internal Correspondence To. M. Harris Date: July 11, 1977 From: D. m. Kelleher JRM Hutcheson Copies-, d. Poutiatine EM Fenner Asbestos 2-04 1-06 JF Heis JP McCarthy 2-04 Toledo Subject: ASBESTOS AND HEALTH MEETINGS - MAJOR CUSTOMERS (G.E., G.M., FORD, ETC.) On June 16, Joe McCarthy and I met with the Plant Manager of Chrysler's Friction Materials Plant and on June 17, Ed Fenner, Jim Reis, Joe McCarthy and I met with a group at Ford and later a group at General Motors. At General Motors, Bill Krebs who holds a similar position to Bill Reitze or Dr. Kotin, said he had nothing against asbestos fiber that was "bound in". He did not want to see friable or loose asbestos fiber in their operations. The goal of the meeting was to determine how we could most effec tively convince G.M. that asbestos could be handled safely.. It was their recommendation that we contact the top manage ment of individual Divisions and review the situation on a Division by Division basis. We are getting the names of the prope people to contact within each Division. In the near future we will arrange for and conduct the meetings. The meeting at Ford was with an Executive Engineer and a group drawn together to determine if Ford should develop an asbestos free automobile. After the presentation and question and answer period, we were, ashed if we would make a presentation jointly with Bendix and Boling's group to a group of Senior Managers in September. Ford wants to continue using asbestos containing products. They don't believe semi-metallics are necessarily the answer and do not want to spend the time and money to redesign their braking system. Chrysler*s problem was primarily a labor problem. They recently had a two week strike. One of the major issues was asbestos and health. We are sending the Plant Manager our Employee Relations literature. We will keep you informed on our progress with these and other major accounts. D. M. Kelleher DMKsmh SCF-ALLF-06600