NEW YORK — Two federal judges in Cleveland and Texas on Friday consolidated thousands of asbestos liability lawsuits in a first step toward resolving claims against manufacturers for worker deaths and illnesses.

The joint class-action ruling was issued by federal district judges Robert M. Parker of Beaumont, Texas, and Thomas D. Lambros of Cleveland following a meeting of judges to consider ways of clearing a burgeoning asbestos case backlog.

More than 100,000 lawsuits are filed in state and federal courts nationwide against companies that produced asbestos, a mineral used widely for insulation. The mineral causes cancer and other respiratory illnesses.

“The need for a multicourt cooperative effort to dispose of these cases is compelling,” Parker and Lambros said in their order.

“The transaction costs are unacceptable. Thousands of claimants die before they can get their cases resolved. Trials have become repetitive, with the same issues and the same products being litigated time after time,” they said.

The judges consolidated all pending asbestos liability cases in their jurisdictions into one case. It is the first such grouping made by judges handling the asbestos docket.

Parker, Lambros and eight other federal judges held an extraordinary meeting Friday in Washington. They heard proposals by plaintiffs and defense lawyers for taking steps to clear the asbestos docket. The order was approved by all the judges, although it was issued by Parker and Lambros, who have the most cases.

Parker and Lambros also scheduled a Sept. 14 hearing in Cleveland to discuss certifying a national class action in Texas consolidating all pending asbestos lawsuits nationwide. That hearing also would examine which companies have too little money on hand to pay claims against them.

Many of the claims involve exposure dating to the 1930s and 1940s, much of it during World War II at government shipyards.