55 years ago in Broad Meadows prison Nick Miccarelli Sr. (my Grandfather) sat in a cell with the leadership of United Electric Union Local 107 out of Tinicum Twp. The lawyer for the leadership was a man named David Cohen from Philadelphia. He later became Councilman David Cohen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cohen_(politician)). His son Mark Cohen is now my colleague in the PA General Assembly. We have corresponded about other issues but it wasn't until I brought up the U.E. strike that we really understood a shared family history.

I remember sitting as a teenager in my Grandfather's home on MacDade Boulevard listening to him tell me about how David Cohen came to see him and the guys in jail. He would constantly tell me that if I wanted to get involved in politics, that I should "go see Cohen. He's a big wheel in City Hall." He and Cohen were staunch Democrats and were seen by many as radicals of their day. My Grandfather, who is now 99 has since forgiven me for running for office as a Republican.

The imprisonment is alleged to have been ordered by John McClure, then a political heavyweight.

Via facebook Mark Cohen related his father's memories of the stand they took over 50 years ago.

"The UE strike was one of the highlights of my father's long (1952-1982) career as a UE lawyer, and he talked about it often.

The UE was given a choice of paying a humungous fine or the jail sentences. My father thought the jail sentences were the lesser evil because the fine they wanted them to pay would have forced the union out of business. The union leaders agreed, and my father visited them regularly in jail.

The visits were more than about keeping their spirits up. The visits enabled them to translate their insights on what should be done be next to the membership. One union leader--I wish I could remember his name--was supposed to go to jail, but didn't. (Perhaps he somehow escaped from jail). My father had him dress up in a suit and tie, and carry a brief case with lawbooks and notepads. "This is my clerk," he told the jailkeepers. So the fugitive union leader went in and out of the jail dressed as a law clerk on a regular basis, and passed on to the membership the collective decisions of the union leadership.

The courage of the vast majority of the union leadership in going to jail helped rally the spirits of the rank and file. It is also drove John McClure nuts because of the high cost of jailing the union leaders and the negative political feedback. I believe McClure wanted to get some concessions from the union leaders before releasing them from jail, but they declined. Finally, he was willing to release from jail without any concessions. That still wasn't good enough: the union leaders came up with demands to be met before they would agree to leave the jail.

'Your Grandfather' is one of the last living links to my father's days at the UE and it would be a real pleasure to talk to him while his memory about long ago is still sharp."