International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 986 records

The records of Local 986 and Local 720 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers document the history of this Local and its members from 1943 to 1979. This labor collection consists predominately of minutes, correspondence, agreements, bargaining files and newsletters.

The regular meeting minutes for Local 720 are complete up to the merger with Local 986. These minutes can be of value not only to the labor historian but also to the women's studies researcher. The minutes as well as the correspondence and agreements of this Local point out that the women were generally employed as phone operators while the men were employed as installation and plant workers and that the women's wages have consistently been lower than the men's. In the 1950s, several women found that they no longer had jobs upon return from pregnancy leaves. As late as 1971, a woman was sent home for wearing a pants suit to work. In the 1950s, the women complained that the International was ignoring Local 720 (see correspondence). Thus after early attempts to merge with Local 986 during the early 1950s, the merger became effective in 1960. The minutes show that women were adequately represented in the combined Local 986, though never holding the office of President, except on an interim basis.

There are no Executive Board minutes of Local 986, however, the regular meeting minutes are fairly complete. There is a complete run of Executive board and regular meeting minutes from 1967 to 1978 of the General Telephone Council, an interstate organization of Locals, all employees of GTE, formed to coordinate contract bargaining, enforce safety regulations, and increase worker benefits. The collection also contains some of this Council's newsletters.

Starting in 1971, Local 986 began the practice of unit meetings, since the Local was geographically so widespread. Thus there are minutes, for 1971 to 1979, from such units as Delaware/Galion, Medina, Oberlin, Port Clinton, and Bowling Green, which document concerns of a more local nature.

The bulk of the correspondence both of the individual Locals 720 and 986, as well as the combined Local 986, dates from the 1950s and 1960s. As mentioned previously, the correspondence of Local 720 highlights various concerns of the female operators. Much of Local 986's correspondence is with the Northern Ohio Telephone Company in regards to union concerns or contract bargaining.

Contract bargaining during the 1950s to 1975 is documented, not only by the various agreements between Local 986 and the telephone companies, but also by bargaining files consisting of contract proposals, wage surveys, special negotiations bulletins and union bargaining notes, which contain some interesting personal comments.

The Union newsletter, The Communication Link, complete for the 1970s and 1980's, helps highlight Union concerns of this decade, such as the firing and eventual reinstatement of Union President, Al Goerlich, for refusal of overtime work.

In addition to the Collection's value to the labor or women's studies researcher, all records may be of some value to the genealogist searching for simple verification of names and dates. The dues payment records would be especially helpful in this type of search. The researcher interested in public utilities may also find this collection helpful.