A JOURNAL OF 1199SEIUSeptember/October 2009
THE
ROAD
WE’VE
TRAVELED
Mrs.Coretta Scott King prayswithworkersduring the historic 1969 hospital strikein Charleston, S.C. That strikewas thespringboard for the Union’s growth intoa National Hospital Union. See pg. 10.
3 September/October • Our Life And Times
Contents
p.11 p.12
Our Life And Times,September/October2009,Vol27,No.4Published by1199SEIU,United HealthcareWorkers East310West 43rd St.New York, NY 10036Telephone (212) 582-1890www.1199seiu.org
PRESIDENT:George GreshamSECRETARY TREASURER:Maria Castaneda
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENTS:Norma AmsterdamYvonne ArmstrongAngela DoyleMike FadelAida GarciaGeorge KennedySteve KramerPatrick LindsayJoyce NeilJohn ReidBruce RichardMike RifkinNeva ShillingfordMilly SilvaEstela Vazquez
EDITOR:J.J. JohnsonSTAFF WRITER:Patricia KenneyPHOTOGRAPHER:Jim TynanPHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT:Belinda GallegosART DIRECTION & DESIGN:Maiarelli StudioCOVER PHOTO:1199SEIU Archive
Our Life And Times ispublished 6 times a year by1199SEIU, 310West 43rd St.,New York, NY 10036.Subscriptions $15 per year.Periodicals postage paid atNew York, NY and additionalmailing offices.ISSN 1080-3089.USPS 000-392.Postmaster: Send addresschanges to Our Life AndTimes, 310West 43rd St.,New York, NY 10036.
3 OUR BUILDING BLOCKSWe’ve remained true to our principles.
4 PRESIDENT’S COLUMN Members’ dedication is our cornerstone.
5 POLITICS IS KEY COMPONENT OF OUR WORK It’s how we fight for justice.
6 WINNING THE RIGHT TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING Our biggest victory.
8 THE WORK WE DO Our professional and technical workers.
10 HOWWE BECAME A NATIONAL UNION Charleston strike was watershed moment.
11 WE JOIN THE PURPLE ARMY SEIU affiliation multiplies our influence.
12 HOME CARE IS OUR NEXT FRONTIER Echoes early hospital organizing campaign.
14 WE REMEMBER SEN. TED KENNEDY He was one of our greatest friends.
15 AROUND OUR UNION Our pharmacy workers carry the torch of our founders.
p.5
RehabilitationTherapists atInterfaith Hospital inBrooklyn, NY
p.8T
hough signs of improvement areon the horizon, our country hasyet to emerge from its severefinancial crisis. The Augustunemployment figures, forexample, indicate that President
Obama’s economic recovery plan is having someeffect, but they also underscore the urgent needto devote more government effort to job creationand to those most acutely affected by the crisis.
If we include in the jobless figures thediscouraged who have given up looking forwork, people working part-time because theycan’t find full-time work, involuntary stay-at-home parents, forced retirees and recentgraduates, the jobless rate doubles.
And the crisis is not just of the unemployed.None of us are spared. It affects ourcommunities, workplaces and organizingcampaigns. Its cloud hung over our recentmarathon contract negotiations in New Yorkwith the League of Voluntary Hospitals andHomes. That we were able to reach a settlementthat preserved all our benefits is testimony toour strength and unity.
Overcoming formidable obstacles is not newto 1199SEIU. On the contrary, it summarizes ourhistory. Founded as a drugstore union in 1932,1199 had just 5,000 members when it launchedits crusade to organize the then forgottenhospital workers half a century ago.
“A lot of people thought that our ‘crack ofdawn brigades’ were a waste of time,” saysJohn Perkins, president of the 1199SEIU RetiredMembers Division. Perkins is one of thesurviving drugstore members who half acentury ago arose early in the morning to leaflethospital workers in the initial organizingcampaign, before going to their jobs in thedrugstores. “We’ve had lots of ups and downssince then,” Perkins says, “but we’ve managedto maintain our organization and unity.”
That organization and unity has swelledour ranks to 350,000 active and retiredmembers throughout New York, New Jersey,Massachusetts, Maryland and Washington,D.C. How has 1199SEIU managed to continueits impressive growth and win wages andbenefits unmatched in the healthcare industrywhile it tirelessly campaigns for social andeconomic justice?
The progressive, idealistic founders ofour Union understood that organizingat the workplace had to besupplemented by organizing within
the communities and against the moneyedinterests. The 1959 strike that wonunionization could not have succeeded withoutbroad and deep alliances. At the time of thestrike, for example, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.had a three-year relationship with 1199 that
began with the Union’s support for the 1956Montgomery bus boycott.
This issue of Our Life And Timesdescribes the major initiatives andcampaigns that created today’s1199SEIU. It documents how ourleaders never viewed our victories
solely as ends in themselves, but as buildingblocks to greater gains for our members,communities and nation. The issue describeshow time and again we overcame seeminglyinsurmountable odds to transform the lives ofour members and their families.
This period is perhaps the most difficult inour Union’s history. But our history inspiresand informs us. We face major challenges, butour record confirms that there are none wecannot overcome.
We facemajorchallenges, but ourrecord confirms thatthere are nonewecannot overcome.
Top, at far left, artist-activistOssie Davis, at 1965 rally forLawrence Hospital workers inBronxville, N.Y. 1199 Pres. LeonDavis in glasses and black coatis in front of Davis. Bottom,painting that hangs in 1199SEIUManhattan headquartersdepicts early OrganizingDirector Elliot Godoff (left) at aunionmeeting.
1199SEIU continues on the path forged by its founders.Heirs to a Proud Tradition
OUR UNION
5 September/October • Our Life And Times
1199’s founders understoodthat victories at the bargainingtable could be negated byactions in legislative chambers.
So political action joinedbargaining and organizing asthe three key components ofthe Union’s work.
Today 1199SEIU is one ofthe nation’s strongest and mosteffective political forces. In thepast half century, 1963 wasperhaps the most importantjuncture in 1199’s politicalhistory. That was when, after acampaign of strikes andlobbying, New York Gov. NelsonRockefeller signed a bill givingcollective bargaining rights toNew York City hospital workers.
Later campaigns, mostnotably at Lawrence Hospital inBronxville, N.Y., won extensionof bargaining rights to New YorkState hospital workers.
As 1199 grew in size andinfluence, it became a leadingpolitical force in New YorkState for funding andlegislation for workers andtheir families. It lead thecampaigns to win healthcarecoverage for millions of NewYorkers by championing billssuch as the Health Care ReformAct and Family Health Plus. Itscampaigns have saved billionsof Medicaid dollars from theNew York State budget axes.
Massachusetts memberswere instrumental in passinghealthcare insurance legislationthat has brought the level ofinsured individuals in the stateabove 97 percent, the highestin the nation.
Maryland members in 2006were among the leaders of acoalition that won passage ofthe first bill in the nation thatrequired a corporation with atleast 20,000 workers tocontribute a minimum of eightpercent of its payroll to itsemployees’ health benefits. Themeasure was later overturnedon appeal.
The 1199SEIU Martin LutherKing, Jr. Political Action Fundhas been crucial to the Union’spolitical success. More than halfthe Union’s members contributeeach month, making the Fundthe largest in the nation.
Through the judicious use ofthose funds, broad alliancesand mass mobilization of itsmembers, 1199SEIU has helpedmany pro-worker candidates,including underdogs, winimportant local and nationalelections. And in recent years, it
has elected some of its ownmembers to office. New YorkCity Council members AnabelPalma and Melissa Mark-Viverito are former 1199ers.
1199SEIU Vice Pres. CeliaWisclow, is an appointedmember of the MassachusettsCommonwealth HealthInsurance Connector, anindependent state agency thatguides implementation of thestate’s universal healthcare lawand that helps residents findhealthcare coverage.
Maryland-D.C. 1199SEIUstaffer Veronica Turner is amember of Maryland’s House ofDelegates and chairwoman ofthe Maryland General Assembly’sLegislative Black Caucus.
Pres. Barack Obama’spolitical director, PatrickGaspard, is a former 1199SEIUexecutive vice president forpolitics and legislation.
Dennis Rivera, 1199SEIU’spresident from 1989 to 2007, inhis capacity as chair of SEIUHealth Care, is credited withleading the organizingcampaign and holding togetherthe coalition for nationalhealthcare reform. His work hasbeen documented in recentarticles in The New York Timesand Crain’s Business Report.
The articles mentioned thearmy of SEIU members who areworking in key states to helpbuild Congressional support forhealthcare reform.
“I’ve been doing door-to-door canvassing since April inBaton Rouge (Louisiana) toconvince voters to contact Sen.Mary Landrieu to urge her tosupport Pres. Obama’s initiative,”says Kenya Knight, an 1199SEIU
member political organizer and arehab aide at Parker JewishGeriatric in New Hyde Park, N.Y.“I’m doing this for the present,but also for my children’sfuture,” Knight says.
Knight is one of dozens of1199ers doing such work in keystates across the nation. Theycontinue 1199’s long history ofpolitical activism.
It is how we fight for social and economic justice.
Today 1199SEIU is oneof the nation’sstrongest and mosteffective political forces.
POLITICS IS KEY COMPONENTOF OUR SUCCESS
NewYorkCity CouncilmembersMelissaMark Viverito (top) andAnabelPalmaare former 1199SEIUmembers.
POLITICAL ACTION
4September/October • Our Life And Times
This issue of Our Life And Times is devoted to the“building blocks” that have made 1199SEIU the specialorganization we have become. In this, our 50th anniversary year asa healthcare union, it is appropriate that we revisit the road thatwe’ve traveled.
It is a story worth telling—and repeating: how we grew from a5,000-member New York City drugstore union in 1959 to a350,000-member multi-state union that today represents everysector of the healthcare industry. While much of the labormovement is shrinking, we continue to grow. In fact, we are thelargest union local in the world—and we’re not done yet.
The magazine you are holding in your hands—and every issueof Our Life And Times—tells you all you need to know about ourUnion. It is about the members. Of course we are very proud ofour hardworking, dedicated staff. And our officers are as good asthey come. But 1199SEIU is, in the first place, about ourmembers. (Actually, with few exceptions, our organizing staff andofficers rose to their positions from rank-and-file members.)
Our employers, the news media, and our elected officialsoften talk about us as a political powerhouse. But if we are so, it isbecause our members are motivated, committed, mobilized andorganized. Of course it is impressive when we turn out 10,000members to Get Out the Vote on Election Day, or put 40,000members in the streets to demand fairness for our families and ourpatients, or when 150,000-plus members contribute every monthto our Martin Luther King, Jr. Political Action Fund. But toooften it goes unrecognized that these are voluntary efforts by ourmembers. Nobody is paid to demonstrate or to work on ElectionDay. Incidentally, our Political Action Fund has 150,000 members—more than any other union, including the international unions,in our country.
Our members mobilize in such great numbers because weshare a social vision of a more just country and world wherepeople—especially those of us who do the work—come first. Thiswas, as it happens, Dr. King’s “dream” and why 1199 was hisfavorite union. For our entire history, our mission has been aboutprotecting our families, our patients, and our jobs. But 1199 andnow 1199SEIU have also been about human solidarity—aboutcoming to the aid of victims of oppression, about buildingpartnerships with our neighbors in our communities, aboutmarching alongside our union and non-union sisters and brotherson behalf of civil rights and workers rights. Nor does solidarity for1199SEIU stop at our borders. Our solidarity extends to workersworldwide who struggle for a more just life—whether in Irelandor Iraq, Haiti or Honduras.
Toward the end of this year, we will formally celebratethe 50 years since a small union primarily made up of Jewish menset out to organize New York’s massive hospital industry, whosework force was primarily African-American and Latina women.
The principles and dedication that were forged five decadesago continue to this day, with the merger of some 17 locals into1199 to form 1199SEIU, fighting as one for justice for healthcareworkers. You can see it every day: thousands of New York City-area hospital workers “walking in on the boss” this summer tosave our benefits for our future; dedicated new organizersworking 24/7 to grow our Union and give tens of thousands ofnew workers a voice on their jobs; homecare, nursing home andhospital workers taking weeks and even months off from theirjobs to go to other states to work for change that we need.
Those of us who work every day on behalf of the sisters andbrothers of 1199SEIU could not be prouder. Happy 50thAnniversary to all of us.
CAPITALIZE ‘BLACK’
I’m an active member of1199SEIU and ex-tremely proud to berecognized as a mem-ber. I received a copy
of the 50th Anniversary edition ofOur Life And Times and I found thehistory of the Union to be a sourceof inspiration relative to the struggleof its founders and the developmentof 1199.
I was disturbed by how theword Black was referenced alongwith Jewish and Hispanic cultures.The word Black was spelled witha lowercase B as opposed to theuppercase letters used to spell thenames of other ethnic groups.Blacks in your article refers to acultural group and not a colorof the spectrum.
May I suggest that you startusing a capital B when you refer toBlack culture? Or use African-American. Avoid being perceived asbeing racist like the New York Postor the Daily News, both of whom al-ways refer to Black culture with alowercase b.
I still applaud the brilliantachievements of 1199SEIU in be-coming one of the strongest unionsin the nation. My opinion is strictlymy own and I just felt a need to ex-press my concerns regarding thissubject.
Robert MorrisSt. John’s Riverside Hospital,Yonkers, N.Y.
Editor’s note: In most cases of style,we defer to journalism stylebookssuch as those of the AP and theService Employees InternationalUnion, which use a lowercase bwhen referring to Americans ofAfrican descent. We remain open,however, to revisiting the issue.
CALL TO YOUNG MEMBERS
During the recentLeague contract nego-tiations, I noticed thatfew Negotiating Com-mittee members were
young. Our future leaders were ab-sent. That indicates to me that
we’re not doing enough to involvethem and to get them to appreciateour glorious history.
Our younger members need tounderstand that our great benefitsand strength at the workplace didnot come easy. Nothing was givento us. At one time, we, the employ-ees, weren’t treated any better thantoilet paper. It was our leaders, in-cluding many young leaders, whochanged that. In my period, I canspeak of Dennis Rivera, our formerpresident who led us to many victo-ries. His leadership began while hewas a young man.
Mr. Rivera passed the torch toGeorge Gresham, who led us dur-ing negotiations and is now thepresident of the most powerfulunion in the country.
These leaders and others whocame before them improved condi-tions for all 1199ers. But they didmuch more. They improved condi-tions for all Americans. Going wayback to the 1930s, our Unionworked with social pioneers tochange the conditions for all work-ing people. Names like Paul Robe-son, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. andDr. Martin Luther King, Jr. areamong the leaders we worked with.
Many of our young memberscame forward to help elect the 44thpresident of our United States –Barack Obama. But the struggledoesn’t stop there. We ask our fu-ture leaders to take that energy andenthusiasm to make sure that theactivists and leaders of our Unionare continually replenished.
Not only are the other mem-bers depending on you. The wholemovement for equality and justicedepends on 1199SEIU. The voicesof our predecessors are calling youto join us.
TYRONE WILLIAMSIsabella Geriatric Center, Manhattan
Let’s Hear From YouOur Life And Times welcomes yourletters. Please email them [email protected] or snail mail themto J.J. Johnson, 1199SEIU OLAT,330 West 42nd St., 7th floor, NewYork, NY 10036. Please includeyour telephone number and place ofwork. Letters may be edited forbrevity and clarity.
THEPRESIDENT’SCOLUMN
Letters
Our Union’s CornerstoneIs Our Members’ Dedication
George Gresham
Member TyroneWilliamswrote to urge young 1199ers to becomeUnion leaders.
6September/October • Our Life And Times 7 September/October • Our Life And Times
The 46-day strike in 1959 established1199 as New York’s voluntary hospitalunion and won significant gains forworkers at seven hospitals.
The agreement that ended the strikeincluded a 40-hour workweek, a minimumwage of $1 an hour, time-and-a-half forovertime, and rules for seniority and jobgrades. But it did not include unionrecognition. Instead it included theestablishment of an arbitration panel, thePermanent Administrative Committee,consisting of six management and six publicrepresentatives – none of whom had anyconnection to the labor movement.
Then-Pres. Leon Davis urged the membersto accept what he termed “backdoorrecognition,” adding, “We’ll be in the front doorbefore long.”
1199ers made it through the front door in1963. It took a strike by members at Beth El(now Brookdale) and Manhattan Eye, Ear andThroat hospitals and 30 days in jail for Davisfor refusing to call off the strike, before Gov.Nelson Rockefeller intervened. In the spring of1963, Gov. Rockefeller signed into law the billgranting collective bargaining rights to NewYork City hospital workers.
Those early victories were won by gainingthe support of key allies. From its inception, forexample, 1199 had allied itself with the civilrights movement. In 1937, it launched asuccessful campaign to secure jobs for blackpharmacists and to promote porters to thehigher position of “sodamen.”
In 1949, the Union created a fairemployment committee, and in 1950 itobserved the first of its annual “Negro HistoryWeek” celebrations. In 1956, it collected fundsin support of the Montgomery, Ala., busboycott, thereby developing a friendship withthe boycott leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.And on Aug. 28, 1963, the Union chartered atrain to transport more than 1,000 members tothe civil rights March on Washington.
So when, in 1965, Union leaders called on
its allies in the civil rights movement to assistwith the organizing of Lawrence Hospital insuburban Bronxville, our allies did not hesitate.The late Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee often joinedthe workers during the hard-fought 55-daystrike. On the eve of a planned civil rightsmarch in Bronxville, N.Y., management agreedto hold an election.
The Lawrence elections was not held, buta month following the strike, in 1965, Gov.Rockefeller signed a provision of the 1963collective bargaining law extending bargainingrights to hospital workers throughout the state.
1199 reached its next collectivebargaining milestone when in 1968 itannounced via full-page newspaper ads“that starting midnight, June 30, when ourcontracts expire, we will no longer workunless we win a minimum wage of $100 aweek.” Many argued that this was tough talkfrom workers who for the most part wereearning about $32 a week nine years earlier.
Not only did the members win the $100-a-week minimum a year into the contract, theyalso won for the first time employer-financedpensions and job training and upgrading funds.The victory also served as the springboard foranother important stage in 1199’s history, theformation of a national union.
In doing so, Local 1199 committed itself toa campaign that married union powerwith soul power. It formed a nationalorganizing committee with Coretta Scott
King as its honorary chair.1199 met with much success in its national
organizing campaign. As have other unions, itfound that the South was not quite ready forunions of any bent. While the Union waswinning members and negotiating contractsfrom New England to as far away asWashington State, New York 1199ers built onits victories even during the New York fiscalcrisis in the 1970s.
But following Leon Davis’s retirement in1981, internal divisions within the union
severely limited its gains. A failed six-weekstrike and tampering with the Union’s districtleadership election in 1984 were perhaps thelow point of the troubled period. But the endof the decade saw 1199 rise from the ashes.
Newly-elected Pres. Dennis Rivera andthe “Save Our Union” slate that hadrecaptured leadership of the Union usheredin a era in which 1199 would achieveunprecedented growth and politicalinfluence.
In 1989 after winning a hefty 42 percentwage increase for its very low-paidhomecare members and while leading thecampaign for the New York City’s first AfricanAmerican mayor, David Dinkins, the Unionwaged a six-month campaign to win a24 percent raise for 50,000 members in athree-year League contract. Newspaperheadlines announced the rebirth of 1199.
Since then, the Union has employedselective work stoppages, pickets, lobbyingand, as always, mass mobilizations to wingroundbreaking settlements in and beyondits New York City base.
After year-long negotiations, 25,000Massachusetts Personal CareAttendants voted by mail ballot lastNovember to approve their first
collective-bargaining agreement. It includeswage increases form $10.84 to $12.48 perhour and increased benefits, includinghealth insurance for the first time.
At press time, 1199SEIU was mobilizingunion-wide support for 350 caregivers atfour Omni Corporation New Jersey nursinghomes whose owner fired members whostruck for three days in August for a faircontract. Last year union-wide supportsecured victory for Kingsbridge NH workersin the Bronx who struck for six months toforce the home owner to abide by thecontract.
As usual, the victory was won by unity,organization and mass mobilizations.
HOWWEWONTHE RIGHT TOBARGAIN COLLECTIVELY“Itwas our ticket out of poverty.”
Not only did themembers winthe $100-a-weekminimum a yearinto the contract,they also wonfor the first timeemployer-financedpensions andjob training andupgrading funds.
Union founder Leon Davisconfronted policecountless times duringhospital organizingcampaigns.
Members at Beth IsraelMedical Center inManhattanconduct their League contract ratification vote.
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
Voting at their institutions, New York City-area members in August overwhelminglyapproved the extension of their collectivebargaining agreement with the League ofVoluntary Hospitals and Homes.
Some 29,503 League members –40 percent of the membership – voted27,430 to 1,529 to approvethe contract extension. Some544 ballots were eitherchallenged or voided.
The Union and theLeague re-opened thecollective bargainingagreement to address thechallenge to the members’pensions and benefitsresulting from the economicdownturn.
Negotiations dragged on for almost twomonths with negotiating committeemembers keeping their co-workersinformed and taking part in walk-ins attheir institutions to press their settlementdemands. In the end, pension, health andother benefits were preserved by extendingthe contract to 2015 and diverting all of oneand part of another raise during the life ofthe agreement.
Negotiating committee member DawnRose, a senior patient account rep atKingsbrook Jewish Medical Center inBrooklyn, was a member of the smallsubcommittee elected by the largernegotiating committee.
Rose, a single mother, says that shesaves material from the Union, especiallyabout 1199SEIU’s history, for her daughter.“I want her to understand the importance ofwhat I do when I’m away from her,” Rosesays. “Negotiating has been a challenginglearning process that has taught mepatience and the importance of solidarity.”
The Union and theLeague re-opened thecollective bargainingagreement to addressthe challenge to themembers’ pensionsand benefits resultingfrom the economicdownturn.
Members OverwhelminglyApprove League Contract
n 1964, members of1199 approved thecreation of the Guild ofProfessional, Technical,Office, and Clerical
Hospital Employees to addressthe unique concerns of 1199’sprofessional and technical workerssuch as pharmacists, registerednurses, respiratory therapists andresearch assistants.
Today, 1199SEIU represents tensof thousands of skilled, educated,and trained professional andtechnical workers. They work in awide variety of settings, includingresearch facilities, operating rooms,and of course, at patients’ bedsides.New titles for these workers arebeing created regularly with healthcare’s rapid advance. Existingclassifications are growing incomplexity and demand increasedlevels of education and certification.
The Guild no longer exists, butnow the 1199SEIU Professional andTechnical Dept. keeps focus on theirissues, which include compensation,education and legislation andlicensure. It also helps give theseworkers voices on how work is donein their challenging fields - proofthat professionalism and unionismgo hand-in-hand.
I8September/October • Our Life And Times 9 September/October • Our Life And Times
THE WORK WE DOOur Professional & Technical Workers
THE WORK WE DO
3. Physician Assistant Tom McIntyreworks the night shift in vascular surgeryat Maimonides Medical Center inBrooklyn, N.Y. “With the night positionit’s pretty much all peri-operative andpost-operative care,” he says. “When Icome in they’re pretty much done in theoperating room, so I do the post-operative checks. I also have a lot ofinteraction with the families. They wantto know what’s going on with their lovedones. In a way that’s the most rewardingpart of the job.”
4. Surgical Tech Michael Tiepnerpreps an operating room at the BethIsrael Phillips Ambulatory Care Center forsurgery. “Prior to this I worked for Land’sEnd [clothing company] and everythingwas life or death,” says Tiepner. “After a few years of selling khaki pants I justcouldn’t take it anymore. I figured I’d do something that’s really about life or death.”
5. “We do a lot of tactile and visualstimulation, getting people to hold thingsthat are soft or rough,” says ArtTherapist Karen Vaden, one of InterfaithHospital’s rehabilitation therapists. “Wealso do murals. It gives people a sense oftogetherness. They don’t feel so alone.”
6. “I’ve worked in various programs andon the floor as a nursing assistant and inthe ER,” says Darrell Sadler, a surgicaltech at the Beth Israel’s PhillipsAmbulatory Pavilion in Manhattan. “But Ireally like working in the OR. It’s alwayssomething different.”
7. “The whole experience of seeing howthey do stuff to the body, how it breaksand how they fix it is amazing,” says FredBaretto, a surgical tech at Beth Israel’sPhillips Ambulatory Care Center, whostarted in 1199 as a nursing assistant atSt. Luke’s Hospital in Manhattan. “Ahundred years ago this was voodoo, itwas witchcraft. Healing was all aboutpotions.”
1. Rehabilitation Therapists at InterfaithHospital in Brooklyn, N.Y include dance, art,drama, and music therapists. Their clients,who are from a largely underserved area,include substance abusers, the elderly andthe chronically mentally ill. The therapistsparticipate in a weekly peer group wherethey share their practices and get somemuch-needed stress relief.
2. “I had been a dancer and a performanceartist,” says dance therapist Linden Moogan,a senior psych rehabilitation therapist atInterfaith Hospital Brooklyn, N.Y. “I felt like Iwas just making art for my colleagues and Iwanted to bring art to the community. Here Ifocus on groups. I provide safe andcomfortable settings where people can haveinsights into themselves.”
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10September/October • Our Life And Times 11 September/October • Our Life And Times
Becoming ANational Union
In 1969 ten years after the historic 46-day strike that won 1199 recognition atseven New York City hospitals, agroup of 500 Charleston, S.C. serviceworkers - mostly young, black women -went on strike protesting the dismissal
of 12 activists at the Medical College Hospitalof the University of South Carolina andCharleston County Hospital.
They called upon 1199 for help. In doingso they forever forged the link for 1199between racial equality and workers’ rights.And as 1199’s first out-of-state charter, Local1199B, they also laid the groundwork for the15-year chapter of the Union’s history as anational healthcare union.
“It was not an isolated case,” says MaryMoultrie, one of the Charleston strike’s leaders,who is today still a labor activist in Charlestonand working to organize the city’s environmentalservice workers. “There were a lot of racialtensions between the nurses and the doctorsand the aides. The aides were being asked todo things that were illegal and our pay was$1.30 an hour.”
The Union had already formed a nationalorganizing committee, with Mrs. Coretta ScottKing as honorary charirperson. It took up thechallenge of a strike in the Deep South andwith it nationalized 1199’s message of “UnionPower, Soul Power.”
“She was essential,” says Moultrie of Mrs.King. “She kept people motivated. She so oftenspoke about the strength of the women.”
“1199 and the Southern ChristianLeadership Conference were there for our civilrights and our labor rights,” Moultriecontinues. “Most of the time in any laborstruggle your civil rights are being violated.”
Unfortunately, the 110-day strike didnot win union recognition for theCharleston workers. Though theydid get their jobs back, increased
wages and a new sense of themselves, some ofthe Charleston workers’ gains were short lived.Management made difficult even the simplestterms of the strike settlement including duescheck off and the grievance procedure. Outsidesupport for the workers waned as the Unionmoved on to other issues. There were somehard lessons about regional organizing.
Still, Charleston’s momentum madepossible rapid organizing successes inPhiladelphia by 1199C and Baltimore by
1199E. In less than a year 1199E representedmore than 6,000 workers at six Baltimorehospitals, including Johns Hopkins. By 1974,the National Hospital Union counted 80,000members in 14 states and the District ofColumbia; 1199’s National Union representedworkers in chartered locals in regions includingPennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, RhodeIsland, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana,Wisconsin, Michigan, New Mexico, California,and Washington State.
“Nationally we had a great opportunity,”says Carmen Boudier, president of 1199 NewEngland. “Folks that didn’t have anything, theywere out there doing [organizing]. They werein dead end jobs with no voice and no respectand the Union made a tremendous differencein their lives with these organizing drives acrossthe country.”
The Union was a force for change forworkers at all levels, says Diane Sosne,president of Seattle’s 1199NW.
“There wasn’t any other union witha vision of uniting healthcare workers,”says Sosne, a former RN who has been amember of that local since it left theWashington State Nurses Association in 1983to join 1199. “The fact that it had an RNDivision made us feel like they understoodnursing issues. We felt they had a leadershipthat believed in progressive and social justiceissues. They had nurses and women inpositions of leadership. It was the right homefor us.”
The uneasy relationship between 1199and the National Hospital Union fellapart in 1984 over a multitude ofissues including a proposed merger
with SEIU. Some locals later voted to go intoSEIU, others voted to go into AFSCME. Still,says Boudier, it was a historic time for workersthat should be remembered.
“To build the Union that way took work,”says Boudier, who started in 1969 as a nurse’saide at St. Mary’s Home in West Hartford,Conn. “It took tons and tons of strikes. Peopleweren’t just given contracts. Nothing cameeasily. People sacrificed to build the Union theway it is today.”
“It’s one of the deepest and richest historiesin the labor movement,” she says. “There areso many stories that can make you cry.Partnerships don’t mean that you can’t fightwith each other.”
“1199ers are dedicated,” saysJune Bennett, a CNA at the Jew-ish Home and Hospital in theBronx, N.Y. “Last year when wehad the strike at Kingsbridge wecame out in numbers and therewas no turning back. When youcall on 1199ers we come from allover the world.”
While 1199SEIU may not beglobal, it is increasingly national,with 350,000 members in regionsfrom Massachusetts to Marylandwhose combined strength makesthe Union the force it is today.
The Union’s most recentgrowth spurt began in 1998 when1199 took the bold step of affiliat-ing with the Service EmployeesInternational Union (SEIU). TheUnion had previously been part ofthe Retail, Wholesale and Depart-ment Store Union (RWDSU) fromwhich it disaffiliated in 1991. Thedecision to join SEIU made 1199part of the nation’s largest andfastest growing union organizinghealth care workers. It also pavedthe way for mergers from Massa-chusetts to Maryland that createda new level of solidarity amonghealthcare workers in the north-eastern United States.
“If there is division and weare fighting among ourselves it de-
stroys the power we have in healthcare and our political power,” saysAnnie Bryant, a CNA at RegencyExtended Care in Yonkers, N.Y.Bryant, an 1199SEIU ExecutiveCouncil member, is a former Dis-trict 1115 member.
The years following 1199’smerger with SEIU saw a flurry ofmergers and affiliations. In 1998,the 30,000 hospital and nursinghome workers represented byNew York City’s SEIU Local 144voted to affiliate with 1199. In1999, members voted to approvemergers with Long Island, N.Y’s15,000-member SEIU District1115 and with SEIU Local 32-BJ-144, which represented some22,500 homecare workers in NewYork, New Jersey and Florida.Local 1199 Upstate, now HealthSystems 7, was also formed thatyear when 14,000 members ofSEIU Locals 200A and the AFL-CIO Hospital and Nursing HomeCouncil in New York State votedto merge. 1199-Rochester was alsopart of that affiliation. In 2001some 3,500 members from Local200D in the Albany, N.Y areavoted to join 1199. Several thou-sand LPN’s in Local 721 followedsuit in 2004.
That expansion came withgrowing pains, but they wereworth it, says Colleen Cozzolino, adietary worker at Nathan LittauerHospital in Gloversville, N.Y.
“A lot of people were afraidto make a change. We had been200D for so long,” says Cozzolino,a delegate who has been at Lit-tauer for 35 years. “But when wegot into 1199 we decided it was agood change. We were let in onthings. Things were more open.And I started getting more in-volved. We saw all the support wehad. We had large turnouts at ourmeetings.”
After becoming the mostpowerful a statewide Union inNew York, 1199SEIU in 2005made the bold move of joiningwith newly merged Locals 1199E-DC and 1998 to bring 9,000Maryland and Washington,D.C.- area registered nurses andservice workers into the Union.Some 12,000 hospital, nursinghome, homecare and clinicworkers from Massachusetts Locals 2020 and 9 would followshortly thereafter.
In 2006 nearly 1,200 moreNew York City workers wouldjoin 1199SEIU’s ranks when re-
search technician and clericalworkers represented by Local 698at Columbia University MedicalCenter voted to merge with 1199.And finally, in 2008, some 7,000nursing home and home careworkers from 1199 New Jerseyvoted overwhelmingly to affiliatewith 1199SEIU.
Delegate Pam Honeyghan is apatient care technician from Maryland General Hospital in Baltimore who’s been an activistand Union member for 35 years.Honeyghan is among the hun-dreds of Maryland/D.C. memberswho regularly travel to other re-gions to support their 1199SEIUbrothers and sisters in their struggles.
“We were just 6,000 membersat one time. We’re so much biggernow. We have thousands andthousands of members now, andwe can take on bigger fights,” saysHoneyghan. “And we have morepeople to back us up. New Yorkmembers come down in busloadsto help us and we have a broaderfuture to look forward to.”
The 1969 Charleston strike was a watershed moment.
The Union had alreadyformed a nationalorganizing committee,with Mrs. CorettaScott King as honorarychairperson. It took upthe challenge of astrike in the DeepSouth and with itnationalized 1199’smessage of “UnionPower, Soul Power.”
“If there is division andwe are fighting amongourselves, it destroys thepower we have in healthcare and our politicalpower,” says Annie Bryant(left), a CNA at RegencyExtended Care inYonkers, N.Y.
“We have a broader future to look forward to.” OUR MERGERS AND AFFILIATIONS
Labor activist Marty Moultrie (in largephoto top) was among the leaders ofthe 500 Charleston, S.C. hospitalworkers who held a historic strike in1969. In smaller photo is CarmenBoudier, president of 1199 NewEngland, who says 1199’s history is“one of the deepest and richest in thelabor movement.”
STRONGER TOGETHERA NATIONAL UNION
Former Local 200D member ColleenCozzolino, a dietary worker at NathanLittauer Hospital in Gloversville, N.Y.
people are starting to speak up more, people canstand up. We still have a long way to go inhomecare work. If it wasn’t for the Union we’dstill be back in the dark ages.”
The modern homecare industry was bornfrom nursing home industry scandals andgovernment funding changes in the 1970’s. Withhome care’s advent, large numbers of AfricanAmerican and Caribbean women began enteringthe workforce to care for people who hadpreviously been cared for by their own familymembers.
The homecare workforce reflects thenation’s immigration trends and is extremelydiverse. Today, West African, Armenian andNepalese are among the major immigrant groupsbecoming homecare workers.
In the early 1980’s 1199 and several otherunions organized homecare workers in NewYork City who were making as little as $2 anhour and had no benefits. The workers included
12September/October • Our Life And Times 13 September/October • Our Life And Times
1199SEIU’s Homecare Division representssome 70,000 workers. It’s the Union’s largest andfastest growing division. Homecare workershave made enormous strides over the years, butlike the hospital workers of 50 years ago, they’restill struggling to break barriers and build betterlives for themselves and their families.
“We know we have powerful voices,” sayshome attendant Beverley Gordon-Wells, a dele -gate and activist at New York City’s All Metroagency. “But at the same time we’re underdogs.”
Most of 1199SEIU’s homecare members inNew York are concentrated in New York Cityand its suburbs. The Union also representshomecare workers in Washington, D.C. andNew Jersey as well as 25,000 personal careattendants in the Massachusetts Division whovoted to unionize in a historic 2007 election.
“When I first started this was really seen as ademeaning job. A lot of people didn’t havecompassion,” says Lisa Kelleher, who has been aPCA in Massachusetts for 25 years. “But now that
home health aides, home attendants andhousekeepers. Many gains have come with theHome Care Division’s tremendous growth.Home attendants’ wages have increases to nearly$10 per hour. Homecare workers have wonfunding for the creation of the HomecareBenefit, Pension and Education Funds.Massachusetts PCAs have unionized and wonwage increases from $10.84 to $11.60 per hourand also helped win creation of the QualityWorkforce Council, a committee dedicated toimproving the PCA system.
“When I started we didn’t know anythingabout a union at my shop. We had to pay forour health care out of our pocket and I wasmaking $5.75 an hour and working four hours aday,” says Wells. “I signed that union card andI mailed it and I have no regrets to this day.”
Over the years, homecare workers havehad powerful allies in their battle for progress,including former New York City Mayor DavidDinkins, Rev. Jesse Jackson, the late CardinalJohn O’Connor, Boston Mayor Thomas Meninoand the late Sen. Edward Kennedy ofMassachusetts. They’ve also been among theUnion’s most active and militant members. TheHomecare Division regularly turns out thelargest numbers for demonstrations and rallies.Homecare workers have the highest contributionrate to the Union’s Political Action Fund.
“Home care is powerful and rewardingwork,” says Wells. “Our clients know they canstay in their homes. They know they have aidesthey can rely on and that they have people theyhave a relationship with.”
“What it comes down to is the employers,”continues Wells. “Sometimes we’re just seen asthe people who keep the companies afloatinstead of the backbone of the agencies.”
Homecare workers indeed face tremendoushurdles. Their pay is low. They must work longhours to make ends meet. In many cases, thosehours aren’t available. Their work is isolated andsometimes hazardous. Largely women andlargely immigrants, homecare workers are oftenafraid to speak up for themselves. Fundingstructures for home care vary from state to state.
“Workers are really struggling. They’reafraid. They have rent to pay. They have carinsurance. They’re losing their homes. What weneed to do is pull together,” says Kelleher, whois a member political organizer in addition tobeing a PCA activist. “I’d like to get somethinggoing in every state to unite people who dohomecare work because we’re all doing the samework, it’s just under different labels.”
Home Care’s Battle Is Our Next FrontierHelping these workers echoes historic struggle of 50 years ago.
TODAY,WEST AFRICAN,ARMENIAN AND NEPALESEARE AMONG THE MAJORIMMIGRANTGROUPSBECOMINGHOMECAREWORKERS
OUR MEMBERS
SOME 375 WORKERS AT FOUR New Jersey nursing homesowned by the Omni Corp. havebeen without a contract since2007. Many workers at CastleHill, Harbor View, Palisadeand Bristol Manor NursingHomes, which are all locatedin Hudson Co., make as littleas $7.37 per hour and can’tafford basic health coverage.Omni’s multi-millionaireowner Avery Eisenreich hasrefused to bargain fairly,harassing and intimidatingunion activists.
Workers held a rally onSept. 1 in Jersey City and athree-day strike at the nursinghomes from Aug. 7 throughAug. 9 in efforts to getEisenreich to negotiate a faircontract with a living wagesand benefits. Eisenreichunsuccessfully sought a legalinjunction to shut down one ofthe picket lines.
New Jersey Gov. JonCorzine, Union City MayorBryan Stack and a host ofcommunity leaders pledgedtheir support and picketed
with the striking workers. “I am a strong supporter
of workers’ right to organizearound the effort to attain alivable wage and healthcarebenefits,” said Corzine. “Thejobs at risk here are among themost fundamental in society—and those doing the work de - serve equitable compensation.”
The Omni workers’struggle is reminiscent of lastyear’s battle at KingsbridgeCare Center in the Bronx.Kingsbridge workers won abitter nine-month strikeagainst millionaire ownerHelen Sieger who steadfastlyrefused to bargain a contractand left Kingsbridge workerswithout health benefits.
“We need to keep up thefight. We’re going to keep onstruggling until we get a faircontract,” said Isabel Padillo,a CNA at Palisade NursingHome who walked the picketline with her three children,Melissa, 3, Jimmy, 12, andElizabeth, 14. “We’ll stayunited until the very end.We are stronger together.”
Battle forLivingWageatNJNursingHomes
“I am a strongsupporter ofworkers’ right toorganize around theeffort to attain alivable wage andhealthcare benefits.”
At a rally held Sept. 1 in Jersey City,New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine showedhis support for struggling workers atfour New Jersey nursing homesowned by the Omni Corp. Workersat the homes have been withoutcontracts for two years. Many makeas little as $7.37 per hour and can’tafford health benefits. “America isn’tright when some people are makingmillions and millions and otherpeople have to fight for basic healthcare,” said Corzine.
Far left: PCA Lisa Kelleher ofFall River, Mass. At left: Beverley Gordon-Wells, a home attendant withNew York City’s All MetroAgency.
14September/October • Our Life And Times 15 September/October • Our Life And Times
AROUND OUR UNION
1199 was founded by a smallgroup of dedicated New YorkCity druggists and drugstoreworkers in 1932. Today,1199SEIU is a political power-house representing 350,000 work-ers in every sector of health care.
“Through the hard work ofour members our Union hasgrown into something incredible,”says Pres. George Gresham. “Butwe should never forget where wecame from.”
Some five decades after agroup of pharmacists helped theservice workers at seven NewYork City hospitals stage a seven-week strike and win 1199 recogni-tion, the Union still maintainstheir core values of fairness, justiceand solidarity.
“I like helping my patientshere and I liked it when I had myown retail pharmacy,” says MannyHorvitz, a clinical pharmacist atNYU Langone Medical Center inManhattan. “Pharmacy is a serv-ice where we do the best we canand we help people. I’m able todo all that and make a living toprovide for my family. I find thatvery rewarding.”
While the majority of phar-macists that 1199SEIU repre-sents are now in the hospital andclinical setting, 1199SEIU stillrepresents a large number of re-tail pharmacists and pharmacyworkers at outlets such as Path-mark and Rite Aid.
“I urge members of the1199SEIU family and all con-sumers to buy Union and to shopat drugstores where there aregood, unionized jobs,” says Gre-sham. “Doing so preserves the fu-ture of our Union as well as thelegacy of our founders.”
To find an 1199SEIU-repre-sented pharmacy in your area, logon to www.1199SEIU.org andclick the Buy Union link or typethe web addresshttp://1199seiu.org/members/oc-cupations/drug_store/union_pharmacies.cfm into your browser.
PharmacistsFounded Our UnionBuying UnionPreservesJobs
“I urge members of the 1199SEIUfamily and allconsumers to buyUnion and to shopat drugstoreswhere there are good,unionized jobs”George Gresham1199SEIU President
A small group of druggistsand drugstore workersfounded 1199. Rite Aidpharmacist Michael Morelli,right, is one of thousands of pharmacists andpharmacy workers the Union represents today.
No Greater Friend“The spark still glows. The journey never ends. The dream shall never die.”EDWARD MOORE KENNEDY, 1932-2009
Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy succumbed to brain cancer Aug. 26, bringing to anend 47 years of incomparable leadership. He was responsible for more progressive legislationthan any senator in our nation’s history.
1199SEIU Pres. George Gresham said on the occasion of Sen. Kennedy’s death: “1199ers inMassachusetts have lost their staunchest ally and beloved senator, but all 1199ers and thosewho value social and economic justice have lost their greatest champion. . . . No elected officialhas done more for the cause of civil rights, peace, education, adequate housing, immigrationreform, women’s rights and the rights of workers and their unions than has Sen. Kennedy. Hestood with 1199SEIU at every important juncture.”
In his statement, Gresham vowed to continue the fight for what Sen. Kennedy called “thecause of his life”—national health care.
In the words of the late senator: “The spark still glows. The journey never ends. The dreamshall never die.” Log onto 1199SEIU.com for further coverage and photos of Sen. Kennedy.
Angie Obas has been a surgicaltech at Beth Israel for threeyears. Obas says she’s alwaysbeen fascinated with theworkings of the human body.“It’s like art seeing inside aperson,” she says. “And it’s veryserious when they take aspecimen or have to do anamputation because it’s your jobto make sure everything ishandled and labeled the rightway.” See story on p. 7.
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