A free reference published by RightsWatch Media, an independent publisher. This page is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to UA Local 562, the United Association, or any union. It is sponsored by a law firm, which is how it stays free to read. We are not a law firm and nothing here is legal advice.

Why this page exists

There is a good public record of which St. Louis plants and refineries had asbestos in them. There is almost no record of who was sent there.

A pipefitter who worked out of a St. Louis hall from the 1960s through the 1990s carries a map of this city that exists nowhere else — which powerhouse was down for an outage in which spring, which contractor had the mechanical package, which shops were the dirty ones. That map is the missing half of the record, and it disappears with the men who hold it.

This page collects what the documents already show, and asks for the rest.

What the work involved

Pipefitting and steamfitting put men directly against asbestos-containing materials for most of the twentieth century. Documented trade practice for the era includes:

  • Cutting into insulated line. Pipe covering had to come off before the fitter could work, and it went back on after. Sawing, snapping and stripping lagging released dust into the fitter’s own breathing zone.
  • Gaskets and packing. Valves, pumps and flanges were sealed with materials that public records and litigation testimony describe as asbestos-containing. Removing a spent gasket usually meant scraping or wire-brushing it off dry.
  • Boiler and vessel work. Tear-downs and re-bricking put fitters inside equipment lined with refractory and block insulation.
  • Working under the insulators. On an outage the lagging crew was often a separate outfit working overhead. Fitters below caught what came down without ever handling the material themselves.
  • Outages and turnarounds. Shutdown work concentrated years of tear-out into a few weeks — hot, crowded, and by most accounts the dustiest work on the job.

Where Local 562 members worked

Local 562’s jurisdiction covers 66 Missouri counties — the eastern half of the state, from the Iowa line to the Bootheel — organised by the local into three regions, with halls in St. Louis, Fulton and Cape Girardeau. The sites below are the ones we publish a documented page for, grouped the same way.

An important limit. This is a list of sites, not an assertion about anyone’s work. A card in Local 562 says where a man lived and hired out, not which jobs he took — men travelled, contractors pulled from several halls, and a fitter out of another local may have spent years on any of these. Which of these you were on, and when, is the question this page is asking. It is not something the page assumes.

Numbers in italics are the count of individuals who appear in the public case record connected to that site — an indication of how well documented it is, not a count of anyone’s claim.

Northern Region

The northern counties, up to the Iowa line — the territory that came in when Local 581 (Hannibal) was absorbed.

Boone County — Ashland Hercules Inc. Missouri Chemical Works Facility Louisiana (51), 3M Company — Columbia, AP Green Industries — Mexico, Courtyard Apartments — Columbia, International Paper Co. Columbia, Miller Hall — Columbia, P#032 City of Columbia Power, Square D Company — Columbia

Audrain County — Huck Finn Renewable Energy Center, Kaiser Refractory — Mexico, Mexico Power Plant, Mexico Power Station

Marion County — American Cyanamid — Palmyra (56), Basf - Dek Tank, Cement Plant — Hannibal, Mark Twain Hotel — Hannibal

Randolph County — Moberly Power Station, Moberly Randolph, Thomas Hill Energy Center Clifton, Thomas Hill — Randolph, Blackberry Creek Coal Mine — Moberly

Macon County — Dog Pound — Macon, Macon Energy Center, Toastmaster / Salton Inc.

Grundy County — Trenton North Grundy

Livingston County — Chillicothe Municipal Utilities Old Power

Putnam County — Unionville Putnam

Central Region

St. Louis City and County, the river counties, and the Jefferson City corridor.

St. Louis city County — Monsanto Carondelet — St. Louis (317), Monsanto Queeny — St. Louis (317), Anheuser-Busch Brewery — St. Louis (236), Mallinckrodt Chemical — St. Louis (128), Laclede Gas Company — St. Louis (46), Lever Brothers St. Louis Plant (46), Emerson Electric St. Louis (45), Wagner Electric Corporation — St. Louis Plant St. Louis Missouri (45), Wagner Electric — St. Louis (45), Federal Building — St. Louis, Ralston Purina — St. Louis, Carter Carburetor Corporation — St. Louis, Carter Carburetor — Spring & Bircher St. Louis Plant St. Louis Missouri, Acousteseal Inc — St. Louis, Ameren General Office Bldg, Ameren Missouri (Union Electric) Substation Electricians, Ashland Oil — St. Louis, Boatman’s Bank — St. Louis, Boeing Defense Space Security St. Louis, Brown Shoe Company — St. Louis, Busch Memorial Stadium — St. Louis, C.B.S. Gateway Tower — St. Louis, Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, Chromalloy Gas Turbine — St. Louis, Continental Can Company — St. Louis, Continental Lead Company Mine Operations, Curtiss-Wright Airplane Factory St. Louis, Dial Corporation — St. Louis, Enright Substation — St. Louis, Famous-Barr St. Louis, Fast Lane — Troy, Gateway Arch — St. Louis, General Cable Corporation — St. Louis, General Electric Phenolic Bakelite Thermoset Molding Asbestos Electrical St. Louis Missouri, Industrial Substation Electricians steel, automotive, refinery, and chemical-plant Missouri, Jefferson Barracks — St. Louis, Kiel Auditorium — St. Louis, Mid-Continent Steel — St. Louis, Missouri Athletic Club — St. Louis, Northside Regeneration — St. Louis, Pevely Dairy — St. Louis, Post Office Annex — St. Louis, Premier Linen and Towel Services, Proctor and Gamble Manufacturing St, Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project — St. Louis, Ralcorp Holdings — St. Louis, SSM Health — St. Louis, Southwestern Bell Telephone St Louis Missouri AT&T Buildings Pipe Insulation Boiler Mechanical Room Asbestos St. Louis Missouri, St. Louis Arena Hockey NHL, St. Louis City Hall, St. Louis Convention Center America, St. Louis International Airport Lambert Terminal Construction Asbestos Insulation St. Louis Missouri, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Newspaper Building Asbestos Construction St. Louis Missouri, St. Louis Shipbuilding Steel, St. Louis Union Station Railroad Terminal Boiler Room Asbestos St. Louis Missouri, St. Louis Veterans Administration Hospital Asbestos Insulation Boiler St. Louis Missouri, Sverdrup Corporation St. Louis, Title Guarantee Bulding — St. Louis, Vermiculite Products Inc. — St. Louis, Wainwright Building — St. Louis, Westinghouse/ABB Transformer Service Center

St. Louis County — Nooter Corporation — St. Louis (129), Chevrolet (79), Laclede Packing Co — St. Louis (46), Barnes Hospital Washington — St. Louis, Missouri Pacific Railroad — St. Louis, AMSCO Products — St. Louis, American Steel and Foundry Co, Carr Square Housing — St. Louis, Chrysler Assembly Plant — Fenton, City View Apartments #30, Clayton Courthouse, Ford Assembly Plant — Hazelwood, Hussmann Corporation — Bridgeton, International Paper Co. — St. Louis, International Shoe Co — St. Louis, Kirkwood Methodist, Kirkwood Police Station, Koller Craft LLC — Fenton, Meramec Energy Center — Lemay, Meramec Power Plant Saint Louis, Missouri Baptist — St. Louis, Nestlé Purina PetCare — St. Louis, Northwest Incinerator — St. Louis, Reichhold Chemicals — Valley Park, St. Louis County Justice Center

Statewide, or county not recorded — our source records these only as “Missouri”, without a city or county, so we are not going to file them under a county we cannot stand behind. Burlington Northern Railroad, Arch Mineral Corporation, Peabody Energy Midwest Surface Mine, Southeast Missouri Lead Belt Mine Shaft Operations (a district across several southeastern counties, not one site), Valmec Industrial Service (a boilermaker contractor rather than a place), Whiteman Air Force Base — Knob Noster (Johnson County, west of this local’s territory)

Cole County — Abb, Inc. — Jefferson City, Ameresco Jefferson City Cole, Chesebrough-Pond’s USA — Jefferson City, Moreau Cole, Moreau Power Station, P#099-12 116 W Miller St, Unilever Home & Personal Care, Union Pacific Railroad Bridge Jefferson, Missouri State Capitol — Jefferson City, Missouri State Penitentiary — Jefferson City

Jefferson County — National Lead — St. Louis (91), Doe Run Company Herculaneum Primary Smelter Jefferson County Missouri, River Cement Company — Festus, PPG Industries / Pittsburgh Plate Glass, Buzzi Unicem Usa-festus Plant, McDonnell Douglas — Berkeley, Rush Island Power Plant, St. Joseph Lead Company Smelter Complex

St. Charles County — Monsanto St. Peters (317), Sioux St Charles (237), Portage Des Sioux St. Charles County Missouri (225), Mallinckrodt — Weldon Springs (128), General Motors Wentzville Assembly Plant, American Car Foundry ACF Industries, Haveg Industries Witten PA, Lincoln Mercury — St. Charles

Miller County — Ameren Ue Lakeside Area Shoreline Management, Former Manager’s Residence — Lake Ozark, Osage Power Plant — Eldon, Penmac Quality Control (uemo18.1), Tan-Tar-A Resort Lake of the Ozarks Missouri, Ameren Missouri Osage Hydro Plant — Lake Ozark

Franklin County — Labadie Power Plant (295), Horse Research Bldg — Gray Summit, Johnny Londoff West — Pacific

Callaway County — Ameren Ue-callaway Plant Cooling Tower Basin, Callaway Nuclear Plant — Callaway County

Cooper County — Caterpillar HPMP Boonville Missouri Rubber Plant, Toastmaster Inc. / McGraw-Edison

Crawford County — Hoppe Springs Museum Demo, Steelville Phone Exchange

Osage County — Chamois Power Plant, Multi Hearth Furnace — Belle

Pike County — Hercules Inc. Aqualon — Louisiana (51), Dyno Nobel — Louisiana

Gasconade County — Tiff Mining Company — Gasconade County

Phelps County — UM-Rolla Power Plant

St. Francois County — American Zinc Smelter Company

Ste. Genevieve County — Mississippi Lime Corporation-kilns 5 & 6

Southern Region

The southeast, down through Cape Girardeau to the Bootheel.

Cape Girardeau County — Lone Star Industries Cement Plant, Procter Gamble — Cape Girardeau, Viaduct Turbine — Cape Girardeau

Stoddard County — Essex Stoddard, Chester Subdivision Railroad Mile Post, Dexter Swimming Pool — St. Louis

Dunklin County — Kennett Dunklin, St Francis Energy Facility

Madison County — BP Wood River-Milan Pipeline, Exxon Mobil Pipeline — Fredericktown

Reynolds County — Federal Lead Company Boss Mine, Taum Sauk Reynolds

Scott County — Sikeston Power Station, Sikeston Power Station Scott

Butler County — Butler Municipal Power Plant Bates

Howell County — MFA West Plains — St. Louis

Iron County — Ameren/ue Taum Sauk Plant Bldg, Job#uem08-86

New Madrid County — Noranda Aluminum Smelter — New Madrid

Pulaski County — Waynesville Solar Farm (MO) Pulaski, Fort Leonard Wood

Across the river — travel work, not jurisdiction

Local 562’s territory stops at the Mississippi. But the public case record shows 562 members working the Illinois side regularly — Granite City Steel, the Wood River refineries, Venice, Cahokia and Baldwin all appear in testimony from men who named Local 562. Those are travel jobs, outside the local’s own jurisdiction, and we publish them on our Illinois pages: Illinois jobsite archive.

One Illinois site is held here rather than there because our own page for it sits on this site: Olin Corporation — East Alton, Illinois. East Alton is in Madison County, Illinois, across the river from Alton — travel work, not jurisdiction.

Who asbestos claims are actually brought against

These claims are brought against the companies that manufactured and sold the asbestos-containing products — the pipe covering, block, cement, gaskets and packing. They are not brought against your local, against the union, or against the contractors who dispatched and employed you. Sharing a recollection here is not filing anything and starts nothing against anyone you worked with or for.

If you have been diagnosed

If you or a family member has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer or another asbestos-related disease after working around asbestos-containing materials at sites like these, there may be options worth understanding. What those are, and what any deadline looks like, depends entirely on the individual facts — which is a conversation for a lawyer, not a web page.

Resources

For informational purposes only. Not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading this page. RightsWatch Media is an independent publisher, not a law firm, and is not affiliated with UA Local 562 or any labor organization.