IBEW 1245
  • Main Menu
    ▼
    • Our Union
      ▼
      • Merchandise
      • New Members
      • Structure
      • Bylaws
      • History
      • Obituaries
      • Our Employers
      • Members at Work: Photo Slideshow
      • Find a Job
      • Update Your Contact Information
    • Unit Meetings & Events
      ▼
      • Events
      • Unit Meetings
    • Agreements
    • Education
      ▼
      • JATC Classes
      • Scholarships
      • Tuition Reimbursement
      • First Aid & CPR Training
    • Update Your Info & Pay Dues Online
    • Contact Us
  • Sections
    ▼
    • 1245 News
    • PG&E
    • Outside Construction
    • Nevada
    • Manufacturing
    • Public Sector
    • Vegetation Management
    • Safety
  • Quick Links
    ▼
    • COVID-19 News Center
    • Benefits
    • PG&E Contract Section Index
    • Latest News
    • Find Your Rep
    • Unit Meetings
    • Organize
    • Calendar
    • Library
    • Stewards
    • Retirees
    • Community

IBEW1245

The power is in our hands

PAY YOUR DUES ONLINE
PART-1

Chapter 1: Because Somebody Needed Their Help

Utility workers performing underground work in San Francisco in 1900, the year IBEW Local 151 was organized. Pacific Gas & Electric

Utility workers performing underground work in San Francisco in 1900, the year IBEW Local 151 was organized. Pacific Gas & Electric

San Francisco linemen first organized a union because somebody needed their help. Linemen in Los Angeles were on strike and didn’t want linemen in San Francisco to come to Los Angeles and work as “scabs.” The San Francisco linemen had no desire to be scabs. On Oct. 11, 1900, they met at the Alcazar building on O’Farrell Street and organized their own union: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 151.

There were some 200 to 300 linemen in San Francisco, employed by telephone and electric power companies. Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph (PT&T) responded to the new union by firing ten of its employees for union activity. But IBEW 151 grew quickly. Linemen wanted the eight-hour day, a standard wage of $3 a day, overtime pay and safer working conditions. IBEW 151 President David Keefe called unionization “a matter of life and death,” noting that line work was so risky that linemen could not buy life insurance at any price.

On Dec. 1, some 200 San Francisco linemen walked off the job. They were joined by about 60 workers at various streetcar, lighting and telephone companies in Sacramento. Eleven linemen struck in Bakersfield, five in Fresno. There were efforts to organize linemen in San Jose, Oakland and Stockton.

The linemen wanted a voice in dividing up the companies’ revenues. But the tools available to the linemen were limited. There was no tradition of peaceful negotiations with utilities, and there were no labor laws requiring employers to negotiate. Other than begging, the workers’ only option was to withhold their labor.

San Francisco Gas & Electric, a predecessor of PG&E, agreed to cut the workday to eight hours. Several other small companies also accepted many of the union’s terms. One utility, the Independent Electric Light and Power Company, signed a contract that officially recognized the union and granted wage hikes, the eight-hour day, and overtime premiums. It was the IBEW’s first signed labor agreement, anywhere.

Next: Chapter 2

  • Introduction to the History of IBEW Local 1245
    • Skip to Part II
    • Skip to Part III
  • Chapter 1: Because Somebody Needed Their Help
  • Chapter 2: Gas Workers Organize
  • Chapter 3: The Earthquake
  • Chapter 4: The United Railroads Strike of 1906
  • Chapter 5: The Industrial Union Prophet
  • Chapter 6: The Street Carmen and the Slave Owner’s Son
  • Chapter 7: Bloody Tuesday
  • Chapter 8: Linemen Refuse to Back Down
  • Chapter 9: The “Hello Girls” Make a Stand
  • Chapter 10: The Strike Against Naphtaly
  • Chapter 11: The Split
  • Chapter 12: The Reid IBEW in the West
  • Chapter 13: PG&E Strike – An Exuberant Spectacle
  • Chapter 14: Contest of Wills
  • Chapter 15: No Neutral Position
  • Chapter 16: Brotherhood and Betrayal
  • Chapter 17: Thugs and Gunmen
  • Chapter 18: Dynamiters and Snitches
  • Chapter 19: Appetite for Direct Action
  • Chapter 20: Coup de Grâce
  • Chapter 21: The 1917 Telephone Strike
  • Chapter 22: The Big Frame-Up
  • Chapter 23: The 1919 Telephone Strike
  • Chapter 24: The American Plan
  • Quick Link: Organizing Sacramento Municipal Utility District
  • Quick Link: Organizing Sierra Pacific Power
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

© 2022 IBEW Local 1245 - Responsive WordPress Website by HyperArts