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1914-1919 Making the Connection

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Delegates to the 15th International Convention held September 1919 in New Orleans.

War’s end did not, however, bring an end to working people’s fight. In Russia the call went out for “workers of the world [to] unite,” and the communist revolution there brought V.I. Lenin to power and sent shock waves around the world. In North America working conditions and wages in many industries remained poor. In 1919, to protest the lack of progress in improving wages and working conditions for telephone operators, Julia O’Connor led a massive strike which shut down phone service in the East for almost a week. It was a success, and the union’s demands were met. Accelerated union activity in the telephone area prompted the IBEW to set up a department devoted to telephone organizing and support.

An early Philadelphia switchboard. Position on the board was determined by type of business and name, alphabetically.

In September 1919 the IBEW International Convention met in New Orleans. The formation of the Telephone Operators’ Department was announced, and Julia O’Connor was named its head. With the beginning of new recognition of the importance of the telephone by the IBEW, also came the closing of an era for the International. At that Convention, after 16 years as President, Frank McNulty announced his retirement from office. He was replaced by J.P. Noonan. Charles P. Ford was reelected International Secretary. In his letter of resignation, Brother McNulty wrote, During the 16 years that I have been an official of our Brotherhood, some of them very troublous ones, it has always been a source of gratification to me that I retained the confidence of my associates in sufficient measure that the policy of the Brotherhood has been at all times along purely trade-union lines. During my tenure of office, I have had the pleasure of seeing the Brotherhood grow from a [small] factor in the general labor movement to one of the most powerful and effective organizations in our country, despite the various efforts made by enemies of our movement to retard its progress. I feel absolutely sure that within the near future it will take its rightful place at the head of the labor movement.

As it turned out, the promising future Brother McNulty predicted for the IBEW would come only after facing continued adversity. The Great Depression, which brought financial and economic turmoil to the United States and the world, and the so-called “open shop’” movement, hit the Brotherhood hard. But President McNulty was right; by 1919 the IBEW had grown in membership, influence, power and determination to a leadership position in the labor movement, Always willing to promote and defend the rights of workers in electrically related fields—from telephone operators to utility workers—the IBEW had become the progressive mechanism of positive change in the workplace it remains today.

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1914-1919 Making the Connection