telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) (09/03/89)
Labor Day is a good time to reflect on the men and women whose labor made the public telephone network in America what it is today. Over a century of dedicated craftspeople -- each in their own area of expertise -- have created the finest phone system in the world. All of them have their own stories to tell. All of them had a part in building the Bell SYSTEM -- a totally integrated phone network which served us very well for many decades. Consider Myrtle Murphy, a former neighbor here in Chicago, retired from Bell for almost *thirty years*, now in her nineties: She was the first union steward at Illinois Bell in Chicago, many years ago. She endured hostility and suspicion from co-workers who 'had been warned about her' by their supervisors. "...stay away from her....she wants to make trouble..." was the word from the higher-ups. But she would go around the office, urging people to sign up with the new union anyway, and once in a while a new member would sign up. But most of her co-workers would just laugh and say, ".....you'll never organize Bell... it just can't be done....too large....supervisors are too strict....better that we have a job, than to get in the union and get fired..." But Myrtle just kept working at it, and finally had enough people interested in joining that the old A.F. of L. responded, and approached Bell with the group's demands. The rest, as they say, is history. Myrtle worked the Franklin Coin Board; a central office downtown which handled all the coin phones in the downtown area. She recalled a humorous incident from the late 1930's: She worked nights at the time, and one fellow managed to cheat on a long distance call every night. This fellow was always in a certain tavern, and would make a long distance call to his girl friend. He would talk fifteen or twenty minutes, then when finished, just walk away from the ringing phone and the operator demanding money for the overtime. Finally, the guy got wise and when finished, would just set the reciever down, without hanging it up; consequently the bell in the pay phone could not be rung to get <someone's> attention when this guy abandoned the call. Five or ten minutes later the operator would come on the line to see what was going on, and find no one there at all! Myrtle said finally one night, after this had happened several nights in a row, always by the same customer from the same tavern, her supervisor said let's tell the security inspector, and have him take care of this joker. When the customer started his call that night, they notified the security man on duty, who got in his car and drove over to the tavern, and waited just outside the door of the payphone booth. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the door of the booth opens, and this slightly inebriated customer walks right out. The security man tapped him on the shoulder and said, "say, would you like to pay for that phone call now?" Well, the guy was amazed that they had gotten onto him, but he paid, and Myrtle said they never had another problem with that fellow again, but she said they were always having trouble with people brazenly walking off from pay phones owing money. Their other problem was people who would cheat the phone by using a thin piece of bent wire which they inserted up the coin return slot (this was L-O-N-G before payphones which had trapdoors on the coin return slot, folks) to trip the coin collection table and cause the coins to fall out. The old payphones had three slots on the top, and a little flat ledge in the phone on which the coins fell. The operators had two special buttons on their switchboard marked 'return' and 'collect'. Depending on the button pushed, the ledge in the phone would tip one way and collect the money or tip the other way and return it. Myrtle pointed out that smart-alecks would shove that little wire up there, and tap the flat ledge, causing the coins to return, then use *the very same coins over again* to deposit 'more money for overtime'. Around 1945 or so, Myrtle left Franklin Coin and went to work in an office called 'Avenue' on the northwest side of the city near her home. It was the last office to be converted to dial, as of 1951. Myrtle pointed out rather proudly, "It was the union I helped bring in which saw to it none of the girls lost their job as a result of the conversion to dial." Rumors were rampant among the operators in the late forties that once the automation was complete, most of them would lose their jobs. Bell kept saying no one would be let go, but few of the operators believed it. About six or eight months after 'Avenue' cut to dial in 1951, the City of Chicago remodeled and greatly expanded Orchard Field, a small airport on the northwest side of town....and renamed it 'Ohare International Airport'. Myrtle noted that once Ohare opened, the Avenue central office had more operators working the automated system than they ever had when the office was manual! By the time Myrtle retired in the late fifties, and went on a pension, the union was was taken for granted. And now, thirty years later, the crew just starting work in those days is getting ready to retire, after spending a lifetime with a company that for all they knew, *always* had a union shop. But Bell did not organize easily, as any of the very early union stewards and members would tell you. It was probably one of the most difficult organizing efforts ever completed successfully. So on Labor Day, think about the years of hard labor which went into making the phone you take for granted work so well. Union people made it happen. Patrick Townson
henry@garp.mit.edu (Henry Mensch) (09/04/89)
Date: Sun, 3 Sep 89 0:49:01 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu> Subject: Celebrating Labor Day So on Labor Day, think about the years of hard labor which went into making the phone you take for granted work so well. Union people made it happen. And, as we all know, they made it stop happening, too. While I find these reminiscences (sp?) generally enjoyable, I find the touting of trade unions in this particular piece particularly offensive. Please remember that we are here to discuss telecommunications, and not trade unions. Non-union people could have made all this happen, too. # Henry Mensch / <henry@garp.mit.edu> / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # <hmensch@uk.ac.nsfnet-relay> / <henry@tts.lth.se> / <mensch@munnari.oz.au>
gperkins@cdp.uucp (09/05/89)
Thanks for a good union story on Labor Day. I'm not in a unionized place, but - I am covered by many laws and standards that only unions could deliver! Gordy Perkins Moderator's Note: In next weekend's special edition of the Digest, Larry Lippman gives us a very detailed, very interesting tour of an SxS office. It is a lengthy account, and one I think you will enjoy. PT]