Work & Technology in Telephone

In late 1971 and early 1972, for over seven months, 38,000 craft and clerical employees of New York Telephone struck in defiance of our employer and our national union, the Communication Workers of America. The strike was the culmination of a struggle to assert our collective bargaining power and rights against AT&T, then and now the largest corporation in the world. The strike was also a reflection of the confidence we had in the skill, autonomy, and initiative we exercised in our work. We lost the strike, and in the past decade we have also lost a good deal of our pride, confidence, skills, autonomy, jobs, and strength as unionists. One factor in this change is a reorganization of the work process, especially through the introduction of new technology. Let’s take a look at some of the technological changes now taking place in telephone. The heart of the telecommunications network is the switching system. It is the largest area of capital investment, probably accounting f...