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California Telephone Worker Marks 50 Years on the Job
Richard “D.J.” Jarratt went to work for the phone company in the days when homes had a single, sturdy black rotary telephone — if they had a phone at all.
Fifty years later, in a world ruled by fiber optics, wireless communication and Internet technology, Jarratt is still on the job, and still loving it.
“I enjoy the work,” he says simply when asked why, at 70, he hasn’t retired from SBC Communications, the parent company of Pacific Bell in California.
Jarratt, a member of CWA Local 9410 in San Francisco, started work at Pacific Bell in Oakland, Calif., on Oct. 30, 1950. His father and uncle, both deceased, each worked for Pacific Bell for 40 to 45 years, giving the family well over a century of service to the phone company.
When Jarratt applied at Pacific Bell at age 20, there weren’t any outside craft jobs available, so he took an evening shift doing building maintenance. “We swept the floor, we mopped the floors, and we washed the walls. We did everything but the windows,” he says cheerfully.
Within a year, he was a splicer’s helper and was promoted to splicer three years later. Thirteen years or so went by and he was itching to do something different. Jarrett took a pay cut to work as an installer, first in homes and later businesses. After that, he worked on the local test board in Oakland, testing circuitry when a customer had a problem. Then he handled more complex problems working in special services.
Two years ago, wanting to shorten his commute, Jarratt took a job as a test technician in the company’s major accounts center in San Francisco, where he is able to test phone lines located all over the state. “There’s a certain amount of challenge to the work,” he said. “Some of it is kind of detective work, you might say.”
Jarrett says he’s “not amazed” by the vast technological advances over the years because he’s been on the front lines. “I grew up with the technology as it developed,” he said. “I was there, so it doesn’t really startle me.”
But he misses things about the low-tech days, when Pacific Bell took care of all its customers’ telephone needs. “In the old days, the phone company was like a family business,” he says. “Everyone knew everybody. You’d have a little old lady who’d call in because she was lonesome and make something up that was wrong. So you’d send someone out to dust off the set, straighten out the cord.”
He’s always been a member of CWA, and occasionally has turned to a union steward for advice. A few times, he’s disagreed with union positions but says he believes strongly that a union is important. “The union looks out for the workers,” he said. “It’s better to have a union than not have one. Without one, you don’t have any protection at all.”
Jarrett expects to work sometime into next year then retire — a bit reluctantly. “A lot of our employees are in a rush to retire,” he said. “I like coming to work. The mental activity keeps me young.”
Fifty years later, in a world ruled by fiber optics, wireless communication and Internet technology, Jarratt is still on the job, and still loving it.
“I enjoy the work,” he says simply when asked why, at 70, he hasn’t retired from SBC Communications, the parent company of Pacific Bell in California.
Jarratt, a member of CWA Local 9410 in San Francisco, started work at Pacific Bell in Oakland, Calif., on Oct. 30, 1950. His father and uncle, both deceased, each worked for Pacific Bell for 40 to 45 years, giving the family well over a century of service to the phone company.
When Jarratt applied at Pacific Bell at age 20, there weren’t any outside craft jobs available, so he took an evening shift doing building maintenance. “We swept the floor, we mopped the floors, and we washed the walls. We did everything but the windows,” he says cheerfully.
Within a year, he was a splicer’s helper and was promoted to splicer three years later. Thirteen years or so went by and he was itching to do something different. Jarrett took a pay cut to work as an installer, first in homes and later businesses. After that, he worked on the local test board in Oakland, testing circuitry when a customer had a problem. Then he handled more complex problems working in special services.
Two years ago, wanting to shorten his commute, Jarratt took a job as a test technician in the company’s major accounts center in San Francisco, where he is able to test phone lines located all over the state. “There’s a certain amount of challenge to the work,” he said. “Some of it is kind of detective work, you might say.”
Jarrett says he’s “not amazed” by the vast technological advances over the years because he’s been on the front lines. “I grew up with the technology as it developed,” he said. “I was there, so it doesn’t really startle me.”
But he misses things about the low-tech days, when Pacific Bell took care of all its customers’ telephone needs. “In the old days, the phone company was like a family business,” he says. “Everyone knew everybody. You’d have a little old lady who’d call in because she was lonesome and make something up that was wrong. So you’d send someone out to dust off the set, straighten out the cord.”
He’s always been a member of CWA, and occasionally has turned to a union steward for advice. A few times, he’s disagreed with union positions but says he believes strongly that a union is important. “The union looks out for the workers,” he said. “It’s better to have a union than not have one. Without one, you don’t have any protection at all.”
Jarrett expects to work sometime into next year then retire — a bit reluctantly. “A lot of our employees are in a rush to retire,” he said. “I like coming to work. The mental activity keeps me young.”