Parker, Julia O'Connor (1890–1972)

American labor leader. Name variations: Julia Sarsfield O'Connor, Julia O'Connor, Julia Sarsfield O'Connor Parker, Julia Parker. Born Julia Sarsfield O'Connor, Sept 9, 1890, in Woburn, MA; died Aug 27, 1972, in Wayland, MA; dau. of John O'Connor (leather currier) and Sarah (Conneally) O'Connor; m. Charles Austin Parker (journalist), 1925 (died 1960); children: Sarah (b. 1926), Carol (b. 1928).

Joined Boston Telephone Operators' Union (1912); began work with Women's Trade Union League (1912), serving as 1st working woman president of Boston chapter (1915–18), member of national executive board (1917–26), and delegate to First International Congress of Working Women (1919); served as only labor representative on Ryan Commission (WWI), but resigned protesting postmaster general's opposition to labor unions (Jan 1919), and led successful New England Telephone Operators' Union strike (April 1919); served as president of telephone operators division in International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (1918–38); strongly supported Franklin Roosevelt, and worked with labor division of Democratic National Committee in presidential elections (1932, 1936, 1940); worked as organizer for American Federation of Labor in northeast, south, and southwest US (1939–57); visited industries in Britain as part of 4-woman delegation studying war production and labor conditions for US Office of War Information (1945).