My Sisters Telegraphic: Women in the Telegraph Office ... - Monoskop

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THE CTUA AND THE STRIKE OF 1907 167 $25.00 to $82.50 a month. Working hours were typically ten hours a day, six days a week, with frequent Sunday work as well, in operating rooms that were often poorly lighted and ventilated. Three-quarters of women operators made less than $45.00 a month. Pay rates had not increased since the 1880s, while buying power had gone down. Wages were actually numerically lower than they had been during the 1860s. 35 Another issue that was causing discontent among operators was the cost of providing a typewriter. In many offices, operators had to provide typewriters at their own expense. Referring to telegraphers in her 1909 study of Pittsburgh workers, Women and the Trades, Elizabeth Butler noted that when typewriters were first introduced into the telegraph office, bonuses were offered to telegraphers who would learn to use them, and their use quickly became widespread. Operators were required to purchase their own typewriters, however, which constituted a considerable initial investment. Butler also noted that the sliding scale was being used primarily to replace men with women at a lower rate of pay in 1907: But important as these points were, abolition of the sliding scale was the cardinal demand. The grievance referred to as the “sliding scale” was the outcome of alleged differences in the work done by men and by women, and of resultant unfair discrimination. . . . Although the work might tell on women sooner than on men, and although they might in some cases be less efficient than men, they were yet sufficiently capable to supersede men at a lower rate of pay. They were lending themselves to a scheme for cutting wages. 36 Union activities among its operators had begun to come to the attention of Western Union by early 1907. The company dismissed two female CTUA members in New York City in April 1907; Sophie Annaker had complained of poor lighting, and Camilla Powers was told by Western Union chief clerk T. Brennan, “You are a union agitator and we don’t want you.” Powers was well-known and respected by other operators; she was a second-generation telegrapher, the daughter of Samuel L. Welp, who had operated in New York and Chicago. In May, the CTUA drew up a list of grievances and presented it to Western Union president R. C. Clowry,
168 WOMEN TELEGRAPHERS AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT charging that the company had failed to live up to its earlier promise of a 10 percent raise and was summarily dismissing employees for wearing union buttons. 37 In June 1907, operators in San Francisco requested a temporary 25 percent pay increase to cover additional living expenses caused by the San Francisco earthquake. The General Executive Board of the CTUA met in New York and, finding that the San Francisco operators had just cause for their request, authorized calling of a strike if Western Union turned down the request; they sent President Small to San Francisco to investigate the situation. Small left New York on June 14 with the authority of the Executive Board to declare a strike, but he intended to avoid one if at all possible. Meanwhile, in New York, Sylvester J. Konenkamp, a member of the General Executive Board, began to negotiate with Commissioner Charles P. Neill of the U.S. Labor Bureau, who was also talking to Clowry of Western Union. Neill was working to have identical agreements signed between the CTUA and Neill and between Western Union and Neill to the effect that the 10 percent raise promised earlier by Western Union would be put into effect; the separate agreements approach was used to avoid having Western Union negotiate directly with the union, which the company did not recognize. 38 In San Francisco, Small addressed the issue of pay for women operators. He noted that while male operators in San Francisco made an average of $70 a month, “There are many female operators working for the company today who only receive $40 a month, and are compelled to pay $2 to $5 a month for a typewriter, as without a machine they cannot hold a job.” 39 Western Union officials in San Francisco rejected the 25 percent wage increase demand. Small in San Francisco either did not know of the New York agreement or did not consider it valid. The CTUA did not use the telegraph to communicate with Small in San Francisco for fear the message would be intercepted, and cross-country long-distance telephony did not yet exist. He called for a strike on June 21, after being given authority to do so by a vote of the San Francisco union local. About 200 telegraphers, 150 Western Union employees, and 50 employees of the Postal Telegraph, joined the strike at Oakland. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that as in earlier strikes, women operators who joined the cause were “received with hand-clapping by the male operators who were standing in the nave of the
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My Sisters Telegraphic Thomas C. Je
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My Sisters Telegraphic Women in the
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Contents List of Illustrations vii
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Illustrations 1. Emma Hunter, teleg
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Acknowledgments I would like to tha
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MY SISTERS TELEGRAPHIC
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2 WOMEN IN THE TELEGRAPH INDUSTRY t
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4 WOMEN IN THE TELEGRAPH INDUSTRY i
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6 Figure 1. Emma Hunter, telegraphe
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8 WOMEN IN THE TELEGRAPH INDUSTRY f
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10 WOMEN IN THE TELEGRAPH INDUSTRY
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c h a p t e r t w o Daily Life in t
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14 DAILY LIFE IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFI
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c h a p t e r t h r e e Society and
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40 SOCIETY AND THE TELEGRAPH OPERAT
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Figure 18. Emily Warburton and Barb
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80 WOMEN’S ISSUES IN THE TELEGRAP
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100 WOMEN’S ISSUES IN THE TELEGRA
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Page 131 and 132: c h a p t e r f i v e Women Telegra
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Page 203 and 204: 190 CONCLUSIONS Women telegraphers
Page 205 and 206: 192 CONCLUSIONS radio instead. Whil
Page 207 and 208: 194 CONCLUSIONS Although Wired Love
Page 209 and 210: 196 CONCLUSIONS the same gender iss
Page 211 and 212: 198 CONCLUSIONS of Railroad Telegra
Page 213 and 214: 200 CONCLUSIONS female railroad tel
Page 216 and 217: Notes Chapter 1—Women in the Tele
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Page 220 and 221: NOTES TO PAGES 42-52 207 10. Gabler
Page 222 and 223: NOTES TO PAGES 63-72 209 lection, N
Page 224 and 225: NOTES TO PAGES 86-108 211 tlemen of
Page 226 and 227: NOTES TO PAGES 129-159 213 is ident
Page 228: NOTES TO PAGES 181-200 215 64. Fone
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218 BIBLIOGRAPHY Burman, Shirley, c
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220 BIBLIOGRAPHY Long Beach (Calif.
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222 BIBLIOGRAPHY Withuhn, William L
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224 Boston and Providence Railroad,
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226 “glass arm” (telegraphers
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228 Northbridge, Mass., telegraph o
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230 telegraphers, demographics: age
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