Communications Workers of America. Local 1150 (New York, N.Y.)

The jurisidiction of CWA Local 1150 has shifted somewhat over the years since its founding in 1951, but its basic purpose had been to represent long-distance operators, maintenance workers and clerical workers employed by AT&T in the New York metropolitan area. Through the period covered by this collection, half or more of all Long Lines (long distance) workers were women. The New York Local was (and is) divided into three sections: Traffic (operators), Plant (installation and maintenance), and Adminstrative (clerical and engineering).

Despite a rigorous (and often unpaid) training period, high stress on the job, low pay, and little opportunity for advancement, telephone work was historically well-regarded by women. The industry in the 1920s and 30s was characterized by a young female work-force with a high turnover rate and little solidarity or interest in union organizing. A period of intensive organizing in the late 1930s produced a New York Long Lines Local of more than 9,000 members, affiliated with the National Federation of Telephone Workers and later with the Federation of Long Lines Telephone Workers. The FLLTW soon reconstituted itself as the American Union of Telephone Workers, a federation of nine New York area locals. Growing sentiment in favor of a genuine national union resulted in the formation of the CWA in 1946-47. After a brief period as Local 1 of CWA Division 10, in April 1951 New York Long Lines adopted its present title of CWA Local 1150.

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