Megan Cornish

Cornish was born on May 27, 1947, into a military family in Oswego, New York, and spent her childhood in various locations around the United States. Cornish says she was drawn to feminism after reading The Feminine Mystique, describing the book's effect on her as "like a bomb had been dropped."{{Cite web |title="Isn't there anybody who puts it all together?" Feminism and the decision to join Radical Women |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJK8wPqHEkM&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |access-date=2022-06-21 |language=en |via=YouTube |archive-date=June 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621201237/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJK8wPqHEkM&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |url-status=live }} After graduating from Cornell University in 1969 with a BA in literature, Cornish moved to the Puget Sound region and worked at The Shelter Half, a GI coffeehouse, as part of the anti-war movement in Tacoma, Washington.{{Cite web |title=Megan Cornish: Radical Women; Freedom Socialist Party;Electrical Trades Trainee (ETT) Program, Seattle City Light - Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project |url=https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/cornish.htm |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=depts.washington.edu |archive-date=June 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621201447/https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/cornish.htm |url-status=live }} It was at this time that Cornish became involved with the labor, anti-war, and desegregation movements. She was arrested while participating in a demonstration on behalf of the United Construction Workers Association. Her activism focused on creating employment opportunities in the trades for black men, and she later stated that "it never dawned on me that I may ever [seek trades employment]."{{Cite web |title=United Construction Workers desegregation campaigns introduced Cornish to building trades issues |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3N93lvnNdw&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |access-date=2022-06-21 |language=en |via=YouTube |archive-date=June 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621201238/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3N93lvnNdw&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |url-status=live }}

In her early years in the Pacific Northwest, Cornish was not a member of a formal group or organization, but she joined Radical Women in 1972 after being drawn to the group's intersectional approach, saying they "put it all [Black civil rights, desegregation, anti-war, labor, women's liberation, etc.] together." It was her involvement in Radical Women that first pushed Cornish to seriously think about the role of the working class and she become more interested in labor organizing. She took a job at a nursing home where another member of Radical Women worked as a union organizer. She briefly worked in an industrial laundry facility, but quit after becoming frustrated with the conservative and undemocratic practices of the Teamster leadership. In 1974, Cornish, along with other members of the FSP and Radical Women, picketed in a strike of clerical and maintenance workers at the University of Washington, which she later described as an early expression of comparable worth.

In 1974, Cornish was persuaded by Clara Fraser, a cofounder of Radical Women and education coordinator at Seattle City Light, to apply for a position as an Electrical Trades Trainee (ETT), an all-female affirmative action program designed by Fraser to integrate women into the electrical trades.{{Cite web |others=Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project |title="It's probably going to be women who are not afraid to swim against the stream." |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPkzIQIbliU&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |access-date=2022-06-21 |publisher=University of Washington |language=en |via=YouTube |archive-date=June 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621201238/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPkzIQIbliU&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |url-status=live }} Gordon Vickery, the former fire chief and superintendent of City Light, was exploring the possibility of running for mayor and hoped to cite the successful completion of a female ETT program as a cornerstone of his experience in future elections. To increase the chances of the program's success, Fraser was hired to redesign the ETT program in a way that did not duplicate failed affirmative action programs for black men at the company. Unlike in the previous programs, the female ETT members were given extra training and allowed to join the IBEW Local 77 with their own bargaining unit within the union.{{Cite web |title=Radical organizer: Turning women workers at City Light into effective advocates of union reform |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py4huVP9FMU&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |access-date=2022-06-21 |language=en |via=YouTube |archive-date=June 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621201232/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py4huVP9FMU&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |url-status=live }}

Shortly before her training began, an eleven-day employee walkout in response to a new disciplinary code proposed by Vickery shut down City Light.{{Cite web |title=University District Museum Without Walls Oral History: Megan Cornish (Radical Women) and Henry Noble (Freedom Socialist Party) |url=https://www.historylink.org/File/9353 |access-date=2022-06-22 |website=www.historylink.org |archive-date=October 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019185836/https://www.historylink.org/File/9353 |url-status=live }} Fraser participated in the walkout and organized other, mostly female, non-unionized clerical workers to join, whose support proved essential to the walkout's success. While this strengthened Fraser's relations with the IBEW and mostly male electrical workers, her relations with Vickery and management were left in shambles. Fraser was terminated the following year in an act seen by her supporters as retaliation.

Cornish was selected to be one of ten female ETTs out of an application pool of over 300.{{Cite web |title=Challenging Sexism at City Light: The Electrical Trades Trainee Program - Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project |url=https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/citylight.htm |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=depts.washington.edu |archive-date=June 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621215743/https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/citylight.htm |url-status=live }} The sense of solidarity between workers as a result of the walkout caused Cornish and the other female ETTs to be received "mostly warmly."{{Cite web |title="At first, we were received mostly warmly": The ETT women's initial reception was favorable |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8J81FM3Mg&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |access-date=2022-06-22 |language=en |via=YouTube |archive-date=June 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622223527/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8J81FM3Mg&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |url-status=live }} The shared resentment towards Vickery and management created a sense of unity amongst the mostly male electrical workers and reduced their hostility towards their new female coworkers. The severed relationship between Fraser and management, however, left the ETTs in a highly vulnerable position as management sought to retaliate against Fraser by damaging the ETT program.

Only a week after starting, Vickery cancelled the ETT training program and removed Fraser from her position as the training coordinator. Trainees were told on a Friday afternoon to report to field work the next week, where they made $1 less per hour than the other electrical helpers.{{Cite web |title=City Light abruptly cancelled the women's two-week training program after just one-week |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56fPPr6BdAw&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |access-date=2022-06-22 |language=en |via=YouTube |archive-date=June 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622223526/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56fPPr6BdAw&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |url-status=live }} In response, the ETTs filed a complaint with the City of Seattle Office of Women's Rights (OWR), stating that they were being denied the typical amount of training and pay reserved for male employees. Following an organizing meeting led by the walkout leaders that many of the trainees attended, Vickery called the women into his office and forced them to sign a loyalty oath pledging to fulfill their employment obligations without complaint. After a year of training, Cornish and seven of the other ETTs were laid off, along with Fraser.{{Cite web |title="Congratulations, you're fired": After one year on the job, the ETT women were unexpectedly laid off |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2QwWuyvWvo&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |access-date=2022-06-22 |language=en |via=YouTube |archive-date=June 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622223656/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2QwWuyvWvo&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |url-status=live }} Like Fraser, the ETTs saw their terminations as politically motivated and retaliatory, and they added the layoffs to their OWR complaint.

As their case was being reviewed by the OWR, the former ETTs engaged in a massive public relations campaign to win the support of the public. Numerous articles about the case were published in the Seattle Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Daily, and other local media, and the case became a central focus of the local women's movement. In addition, the ETT case damaged then-mayor Wes Uhlman's credibility as a progressive, in part leading to the failure of his 1976 gubernatorial campaign. In a July 1976 major victory for the former ETTs, City Light was ordered to reinstate six of the terminated trainees, including Cornish, as well as to pay a settlement, give them back pay, and make them eligible for apprenticeship programs.

In the time between her termination and rehiring, Cornish worked as a house wiring apprentice through IBEW Local 46.{{Citation |title=Cornish, Durham, and Bach joined the residential wiring apprenticeship at IBEW |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZHMysSRcN8&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |language=en |access-date=2022-06-22 |archive-date=June 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622223526/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZHMysSRcN8&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |url-status=live }} After the July 1976 victory in court, Cornish applied for a City Light apprenticeship as a lineworker alongside two other Radical Women members named Teri Bach and Heidi Durham. Cornish described the period during which she and the other female trainees returned to work after winning their court case as the "roughest" time during her career at City Light.{{Cite web |title="It took her a long time to break through the fact that people just discounted her as a black woman" |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXwtc013zTU&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |access-date=2022-06-22 |language=en |via=YouTube |archive-date=June 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622223657/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXwtc013zTU&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |url-status=live }} Vickery and other management, angered by the ruling, placed Cornish and her female colleagues into positions that were designed to be the most difficult to succeed in. Each of the women were placed into divisions that were known to be dangerous, which ultimately led to Durham falling from a pole and breaking her back in a near-fatal accident.

In addition to being antagonized by management, Cornish and the other women apprentices were also met with animosity from the male electrical workers that they worked alongside. In 1975, Local 77 of the IBEW staged a strike for 98 days, the longest public worker strike in Washington history. Despite the strike's longevity, the electricians were unable to gain the support of their larger union and they were forced to settle for an unfavorable contract. While the electricians did win a wage increase, the new contract also created harsher working conditions.{{Cite web |title=Seattle City Light electricians strike on October 17, 1975. |url=https://historylink.org/File/3611 |access-date=2022-06-23 |website=historylink.org |archive-date=May 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515050917/https://historylink.org/File/3611 |url-status=live }} Many male electricians, frustrated and demoralized by their strike's defeat, held resentment towards the former ETTs for winning their discrimination case, and these feelings were exploited by management to increase the sexist hostility of the work environments.{{Cite web |title="There was a lot more hostility when we came back." |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woL94UmkoF8&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |access-date=2022-06-23 |language=en |via=YouTube |archive-date=June 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623051553/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woL94UmkoF8&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |url-status=live }}

Despite having an affirmative action plan in place to diversify its workforce, Cornish, Bach, and Durham remained some of the only female electrical workers at City Light for nearly ten years. The three regularly gave public comment at Seattle City Council meetings to demand the hiring of more women and people of color at City Light.{{Cite web |title="We made a public issue of it consistently and basically forced [City Light] to start hiring women" |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFrSaVR6r4o&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |access-date=2022-06-23 |language=en |via=YouTube |archive-date=June 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623051552/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFrSaVR6r4o&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |url-status=live }} In the early 1980s, City Light hired its first new female electrical worker in nearly a decade.

In 1983, Cornish helped establish the Employee Committee for Equal Rights at City Light (CERCL) to fight workplace harassment and discrimination in response to inaction from management, union leaders, and the City of Seattle Human Rights Department (HRD).{{Cite book |last=Belew |first=Ellie |title=High Voltage Women: Breaking Barriers at Seattle City Light |publisher=Red Letter Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-932323-34-7 |location=Seattle, WA}} CERCL membership grew rapidly in the mid-1980s and pressured the HRD to investigate discrimination cases. In 1991, Cornish and Durham were jointly named Advocate of the Year by the Washington Women in the Trades.

Cornish retired from Seattle City Light in 2004 after 30 years. At the time of her retirement, she held the position of outage dispatcher, the highest position in the utility trades. She credits her adherence to feminism and political radicalism as essential to her accomplishments in organizing at City Light.{{Cite web |title="There's a reason why so many of the people who were in the ETT program were feminists." |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvhphoauK9s&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |access-date=2022-06-23 |language=en |via=YouTube |archive-date=June 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623052801/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvhphoauK9s&list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |url-status=live }} She remains an active member of Radical Women and the Freedom Socialist Party and continues to write for the Freedom Socialist newspaper. Cornish's organizing activities at City Light are the subject of the book High Voltage Women published in 2019.

• Heidi Durham
• Clara Fraser
• Seattle City Light
• Freedom Socialist Party
• Radical Women

• {{Cite web |year=2005 |title=Megan Cornish |url=https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/cornish.htm |website=Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project}}
• {{Cite web |date=2005-10-20 |title=Megan Cornish Interview with Nicole Grant and Alex Morrow |url=https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrnclw6j_Mi9N6T_TWAazg17dNqO2E2X0 |access-date=2016-09-09 |website=Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project |via=YouTube}}
• {{Cite web |date=2019-02-22 |title=Megan Cornish, Conor Casey, and Ellie Belew Interview with Mike Dumovich |url=https://elliebelew.com/history-community/high-voltage-women-breaking-barriers-at-seattle-city-light |website=We Do the Work |publisher=KSVR}}
• {{Cite web |year=2006 |title=Nicole Grant |url=https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/citylight.htm |website=Challenging Sexism at City Light: The Electrical Trades Trainee Program |publisher=Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project}}
• {{Cite web |title=Ellie Belew Interview with Mimi Rosenberg |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgwLzVR0EMY |access-date=2019-03-28 |website=HIGH VOLTAGE WOMEN: Interview & slideshow |publisher=Radical Women - U.S. |via=YouTube}}

• {{Cite book |last=Belew |first=Ellie |title=High Voltage Women: Breaking Barriers at Seattle City Light |publisher=Red Letter Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0932323347}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Averill |first1=Linda |title=HA Worker's Guide to the 20th Century |last2=Cornish |first2=Megan |last3=Murray |first3=Peter |last4=Turner |first4=Tamara |year=2001 |publisher=Red Letter Press |isbn=978-0932323132}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Cornish |first1=Megan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LSykOgAACAAJ |title=Women Workers: Sparkplugs of Labor: A Groundbreaking Analysis Documenting the Explosive Force of Females in the Workplaces of the 90's |last2=Durham |first2=Heidi |publisher=Radical Women |year=1990}}

• {{Cite web |title=Clara Fraser Papers, 1905-1998 |url=https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv56640 |publisher=Labor Archives of Washington |quote=36.70 cubic feet}}
• {{Cite web |title=Megan Cornish Papers, 1970-2003 |url=https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv590361 |publisher=Labor Archives of Washington |quote=10.26 cubic feet}}
• {{Cite web |title=Heidi Durham Papers and Oral History Interviews, 1937-2017 |url=https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv134277 |publisher=Labor Archives of Washington |quote=1.57 cubic feet}}
• {{Cite web |title=Freedom Socialist Party Seattle Branch Records, 1984-1992 |url=https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv27291 |publisher=Labor Archives of Washington |quote=3.14 cubic feet}}
• {{Cite web |title=Freedom Socialist Party National Office (Seattle) Records, 1976-1998 |url=https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv793914 |publisher=Labor Archives of Washington |quote=3.09 cubic feet}}
• {{Cite web |title=Radical Women Seattle Office Records, 1991-1997 |url=https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv147064 |publisher=Labor Archives of Washington |quote=0.37 cubic feet}}
• {{Cite web |title=Radical Women National Office (Seattle) Records], 1976-1998 |url=https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv847136 |publisher=Labor Archives of Washington |quote=1.28 cubic feet}}
• {{Cite web |title=Melba Windoffer Papers], 1910-1993 |url=https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv17486 |publisher=Labor Archives of Washington |quote=7.42 cubic feet}}

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Category:1947 births

Category:Living people

Category:American socialist feminists

Category:Members of the Freedom Socialist Party

Category:Activists from Seattle

Category:American women trade unionists

Category:People from Oswego, New York

Category:Cornell University alumni

Category:Trade unionists from Washington (state)