Communications Workers of America, Operators Division, Local 1104 :

Author:

Communications Workers of America. Operators Division. Local 1104.

Call Number:

MSS APAP-121 local

Abstract:

The telephone operators collection contains a variety of documents illustrating the group's evolution from its days with the Telecommunications International Union (TIU) through its initial years with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The materials represent activities ranging from everyday issues to nation-wide concerns, though the majority of the collection focuses on local topics. Although the union formed in the late 1940s, the collection mainly covers the 1970s and later. There is a considerable amount of correspondence which the union divided by national and local letters and memos. Many letters document CWA headquarters executive committee members and local executive committee members decision making. The disaffiliation from the TIU and affiliation with CWA is well-documented. The collection has a selection of legal contracts and agreements, many dealing with the period following the breakup of AT & T. There are also agreements regarding union affiliation and materials documenting the 1989 strike. Researchers will find day-to-day issues represented in the subject files dealing with specific offices and special projects. Conventions and seminars are represented in the collection on the national and local levels. Many union activities, including strikes and conventions, are documented through photographs. The membership series features grievances, applications, and resignation paperwork.

Historical Note:

The operators of the Telephone Traffic Union Upstate (TTUU), today part of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), have roots stretching back to the 1940s. The TTUU began in 1945 in Albany, New York as the Traffic Employees Association Upstate Area. Led by Marie McGoughan, the group members established themselves as proponents of better working conditions and wages for telephone operators. December 1949 brought about the first issue of the union's newsletter, Traffic Calls, and in 1950 the group voted to change its name to Telephone Traffic Union Upstate, New York. Before they were members of the CWA, the American Telephone & Telegraph (AT & T) operators of the TTUU were affiliated with the Telecommunications International Union (TIU). The TIU had an executive committee that oversaw the activities of its locals, but holes in their constitution led to difficulties in 1984 when the TIU decided that it wanted to consider joining forces with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) or the CWA. Ultimately the TTUU broke away from the TIU in order to join the CWA in the mid-1980s. They believed that the CWA would best protect their interests, and they put the new relationship to the test almost right away as automated switchboard systems began threatening the operators' jobs in the 1980s and 1990s. The breakup of AT & T into multiple, smaller companies in 1984 also endangered the operators' wages, benefits, and sometimes their very jobs, resulting in an increasing partnership between the phone operators and the CWA. In 2001, the operators division of the CWA merged with the Graduate Student Employees Union (GSEU) and the telecommunications workers to form the local 1104, which increased the bargaining strength of all three divisions.

Physical Description:

26 cu ft

Access Terms:

Access to the collection is unrestricted with the exception of the exception of Series #6: Membership and several folders in Series #2. Researchers seeking access to this material should contact the head of archives.

Notes:

Communications Workers of America, Operators Division, Local 1104 Records. M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University at Albany, State University of New York.

Subjects:

Labor unions New York (State), Labor union locals, Labor union members, Labor unions Records and correspondence, Labor unions Recognition, Telephone operators, Strikes and lockouts Telephone companies, Picketing, Strikebreakers, Labor union locals, Labor union members, Labor unions, Labor unions Recognition, Picketing, Strikebreakers, Strikes and lockouts Telephone companies, and Telephone operators

Genres/Forms:

Correspondence. aat, Minutes. aat, Reports. aat, Files by subject. aat, Newsletters. aat, Contracts. aat, Agreements. aat, Financial records. aat, Application forms. aat, Personnel records. aat, Petitions. aat, Photographs. aat, Memorabilia. aat, and Records and correspondence

Names:

Conroy, Donna, Young, Kim, Bahr, Morton, and Bahr, Morton

Corporate Names:

Communications Workers of America. Operators Division. Local 1104, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, AT & T (Firm), Bell Atlantic Corporation, NYNEX Corporation, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, AT & T (Firm), Bell Atlantic Corporation, and NYNEX Corporation

Geographic Terms:

New York (State), Upstate New York (N.Y.), New York (State), and New York (State) Upstate New York