In December 1933, radio operators employed by RCA Communications, Inc., formed a labor union. In March 1934, the organization adopted a constitution and by-laws and the name, Employees Association of RCA Communications, Inc. The Association was organized on a national basis in four geographical districts -- eastern, midwestern, western, and southern. Included in the Association were “live traffic” employees (teletype, radio and telephone operators, mechanicians, and counter, delivery, routing and RQ clerks), and operating, technical and clerical employees. Little progress was made in attempts to bargain with the company.
In September 1935, the members of the Association voted overwhelmingly to join the American Radio Telegraphists Association (ARTA), a nation-wide union which later affiliated with the Congress for Industrial Organizations. Within ARTA were three divisions -- marine, broadcast, and point-to-point airways. The majority of the Association became members of Local 10 which included live-traffic workers in all of the communications companies operating in New York City including RCA Communications, Globe Wireless Company, Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company, and Commercial Cables.
In 1937-1938, ARTA changed its name to the American Communications Association (ACA).
Some of the special issues of concern to Local 10 were the organization of Victory and War Production Committees to aid the United States effort in World War II, and the proposed merger of existing telegraph companies into one unified system. This proposal arose repeatedly from about 1940 to 1960, and the union consistently opposed it. (Other records concerning this topic are in the national ACA and ACA Local 11 records also available at the Historical Society.) Like the national ACA, Local 10 was troubled by charges of communism; in 1957, four Local officials were the subjects of investigations by the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Senate Internal Security Sub-Committee for refusing to state whether or not they were communists.
The major aims and functions of Local 10 were those common to all unions: negotiating contracts with the employing companies; improving working conditions; obtaining equitable wages, promotions, duty assignments, medical benefits, vacations, etc., for the workers; and organizing sports and social functions for union members.
