C&P Telephone switchboard: 1920 ca.
Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone operators at the switchboard while company officials look over their shoulders, probably at the central office on 13th Street NW, Washington, D.C. in an undated photograph circa 1930.
The operators formed an independent union out of the old American Bell Association “company union” in 1935 with the passage of the Wagner Act that outlawed employer-sponsored unions.
The group helped form the National Federation of Telephone Workers (NFTW) in 1939 and later the Communications Workers of America in 1947.
The union, led by Mary Gannon, was probably the most militant and most unified union in the city from 1944-47.
It staged sit-down strikes and a nine-day strike in January 1947 against oppressive working conditions as well as being one of the last local unions to return to work during the 1947 6-week national telephone strike..
The union was overwhelmingly women and led by a woman, both unusual during that period of time.
They staged as many as 200 mini strikes.
Many of their work stoppages were “sympathy strikes” where they attempted to aid other workers such as refusing to put telephone calls through to hotels during a 1946 strike by hotel workers.
For more information and related images on the Washington Telephone Traffic Union, see flic.kr/s/aHsmbnHJap
For a blog post on the Washington Telephone Traffic Union union, see washingtonareaspark.com/2022/02/08/the-washington-telepho...
The image is a Harris and Ewing photograph courtesy of the Library of Congress Call Number: LC-H25- 91174-GA [P&P]
C&P Telephone switchboard: 1920 ca.
Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone operators at the switchboard while company officials look over their shoulders, probably at the central office on 13th Street NW, Washington, D.C. in an undated photograph circa 1930.
The operators formed an independent union out of the old American Bell Association “company union” in 1935 with the passage of the Wagner Act that outlawed employer-sponsored unions.
The group helped form the National Federation of Telephone Workers (NFTW) in 1939 and later the Communications Workers of America in 1947.
The union, led by Mary Gannon, was probably the most militant and most unified union in the city from 1944-47.
It staged sit-down strikes and a nine-day strike in January 1947 against oppressive working conditions as well as being one of the last local unions to return to work during the 1947 6-week national telephone strike..
The union was overwhelmingly women and led by a woman, both unusual during that period of time.
They staged as many as 200 mini strikes.
Many of their work stoppages were “sympathy strikes” where they attempted to aid other workers such as refusing to put telephone calls through to hotels during a 1946 strike by hotel workers.
For more information and related images on the Washington Telephone Traffic Union, see flic.kr/s/aHsmbnHJap
For a blog post on the Washington Telephone Traffic Union union, see washingtonareaspark.com/2022/02/08/the-washington-telepho...
The image is a Harris and Ewing photograph courtesy of the Library of Congress Call Number: LC-H25- 91174-GA [P&P]