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IBEW1245

The power is in our hands

PAY YOUR DUES ONLINE
PART-1

Chapter 15: No Neutral Position

PG&E’s gas works in Chico in the early 1900s. Pacific Gas & Electric

PG&E’s gas works in Chico in the early 1900s. Pacific Gas & Electric

The Light and Power Council made life difficult for PG&E in the early days of the strike.

“The strikers are picketing every power house, substation and other properties of the company every hour of the day and night,” the San Francisco Call reported. “There are uniformed police on guard at all the places being picketed.”

PG&E facilities in Oroville, Chico, and Oakland were destroyed—by accident or otherwise. Many arc lights were out in San Francisco and the number was growing daily. Council Secretary W. S. Junkin mobilized “motorcycle pickets” to count the number of lights that were out. This eventually prompted city leaders to reduce payments to PG&E for its failure to deliver the promised level of service.

Motorcycles patrolled the area around PG&E plants, photographing strikebreakers and creating a “rogue’s gallery” that could be used to keep scabs from getting union work in the future.

On the strike’s eighth day, the Council offered General Manager Britton a major concession. The Council was now willing to arbitrate all issues, if PG&E would just recognize the Council as the workers’ sole bargaining representative. Britton refused, and said that he would have no further dealings with the Council.

California Labor Federation President Haggerty, the top statewide labor official, said it was time for all unions to choose sides in this historic struggle:

All organized labor unions should make this fight their own, as it involves fundamental principles upon which all labor is organized. There is no neutral position to assume.”

Next: Chapter 16

  • 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
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