Strikes

There has been a strike by 17,000 union members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) against AT&T that started on August 16. Like most strikes that last for more than a week, there is some rhetoric flying from both parties accusing the other side of negotiating in bad faith. Telecommunications strikes have been part of the history of the industry. One of the first big telecommunications strikes was in 1947 with the union at that time being the National Federation of Telephone Workers. The CWA was born out of the aftermath of the 1947 strike. I decided to write about this because I was part of the 1983 strike against AT&T. I was in management at Southwestern Bell and was informed at midnight on a Saturday night to report immediately to be an operator. I grew up in a union household, and I saw first-hand how being in a strong union benefited workers and their families with good wages and a solid retirement plan. Getting a firsthand look at the day-to-day work of running a giant telco during a strike gave me an increased appreciation of the great work the union folks at the company did every day.