10 Facts About Julia O'Connor

Julia Sarsfield O'Connor was an American labor leader and head of the National Telephone Operators' Department of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Julia O'Connor spent her entire forty-five-year career in the labor movement.

Julia O'Connor was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Irish immigrants John and Sarah O'Connor as one of four children.

Julia O'Connor joined the executive board of the Boston office of the National Women's Trade Union League, and was elected president of the Boston WTUL from 1915 to 1918.

Julia O'Connor became president of Boston Local 1A of the National Telephone Operators' Department in 1918.

Julia O'Connor was appointed to represent labor on the commission.

However, after only a few months, O'Connor resigned in early 1919, charging that the commission had demonstrated a hostile attitude toward the telephone and telegraph workers.

Julia O'Connor married Charles Austin Parker, a reporter for the Boston Herald, in 1925.

Julia O'Connor became an organizer for the American Federation of Labor in 1939, and moved to New York City to help organize Western Union workers.

Julia O'Connor returned to Boston in 1947 and continued to work as a labor organizer until her retirement in 1957.