National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees. Series 1, Subseries 1, Sub-subseries 3. Doris Turner interview, 1975-1981.

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National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees. Series 1, Subseries 1, Sub-subseries 3. Doris Turner interview, 1975-1981.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/64091506

Doris Turner discusses, among other subjects, the ethnic composition of hospital staffs; sex discrimination against women hospital employees; 1199's organizing of hospital workers; the hospital strike of 1959; and union leadership, administration and politics. Specifically, the interview with Doris Turner regards her personal background; her experience as a dietary clerk at Lenox Hill Hospital; the race of hospital workers and race and sex discrimination against hospital workers; wage levels; working conditions; turnover rates; work assignments; literacy levels; living conditions for live-in workers; grievance settlement and complaints; meetings held between hospital administrators and workers; walkouts and protests staged by women workers; signing of membership cards; the establishment of 1199's union headquarters; 1199's organizing activities; the hospital administration's opposition to union organizing; the hiring of foreign women workers; and the firing of Turner for union activity and her subsequent reinstatement. Also discussed is community support for the hospital strike of 1959; worker solidarity during the organizing campaign; the segregation of black workers from white patients; language differences among hospital workers; organizing activities of hospital workers at Lenox Hill; Turner's relationship with Godoff; the strike conduct and pickets; hospital administrators' reactions to the organizing campaign; the social composition of hospital boards of trustees; Mike Quill's participation in strike activities; changes in the organizational structure of 1199 during unionization of hospitals; the training of organizers and union staff; lobbying activities for the passage of collective bargaining legislation; Godoff's personality and organizing strategy; the distribution of leaflets and dues collection; Moe Foner's contacts with the media and union public relations; union administration under the Permanent Administrative Committee; and compulsory arbitration and the no-strike pledge. Also discussed are the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital and Beth-El Hospital (1962) strikes and their effect on passage of collective bargaining legislation; the relationship of the civil rights movement to hospital unionization; the participation of Norman Thomas, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Floyd Sheppard in 1199's organizing campaign; rank and file members and union leadership; 1199's political goals and organizational structure; the relationship between Drug and Hospital Division leaders; Leon Davis' role in 1199 politics; the hiring of professionals for union leadership positions; the establishment of the Guild of Professional Workers; the community of interests between white and blue collar workers; union democracy and participation of the rank and file in union policy making and politics; communication between leaders and rank and file members; health care policies and the public interest; worker morale and pride; and the training and upgrading of hospital workers.

1 transcript (70 p.)

Cornell University Library

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7911042

Cornell University Library

Related Entities

There are 14 Entities related to this resource.

Godoff, Elliott.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m94grp (person)

Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66f2m9d (corporateBody)

Sheppard, Floyd.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m65z73 (person)

Quill, Mike

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kq0qkn (person)

Foner, Moe, 1915-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jh4rw7 (person)

Labor union organizer. From the description of Reminiscences of Moe Foner: oral history, 1986. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309737252 ...

Davis, Leon J. 1907-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t19g4m (person)

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qs5m3z (person)

Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. January 15, 1929, Atlanta, Georgia –d. April 4, 1968, Memphis, Tennessee) was an American Baptist minister and activist who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience. King helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. In 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize and in 1965, he helped to organize the Selma to M...

Permanent Administrative Committee (New York, N.Y.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64z221r (corporateBody)

National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68d3pzd (corporateBody)

The unedited oral history interviews of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees discuss the evolution of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union drugstore local, representing pharmacists and drug clerks in New York City (known as Local 1199 and District 1199) into an international union of non-professional and professional workers in voluntary and non-profit health institutions, including hospitals, clinics and nursing homes as well as drugstores. From the d...

National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees. District 1199

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fj7bzq (corporateBody)

Turner, Doris, 1931-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hb05tr (person)

Trade-union organizer. From the description of Oral history interview with Doris Turner, 1978. (Wayne State University, Archives of Labor & Urban). WorldCat record id: 32321632 ...

X, Malcolm, 1925-1965

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w658220q (person)

Black activist. From the description of Radio broadcast of an interview with Malcolm X, 1962. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309736449 Black nationalist. From the description of Reminiscences of Malcolm X : lecture, [196-?]. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122513305 African American nationalist leader and minister of the Nation of Islam who sought to broaden the civil rights struggle ...

Beth-El Hospital (New York, N.Y.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66q8qjt (corporateBody)

Thomas Norman Mattoon, 1884-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6d50kt2 (person)

Norman Mattoon Thomas (1884-1968), was a leading American socialist, pacifist, author, and six-time presidential candidate on the Socialist Party of America ticket, between 1928 and 1948. Born in Marion, Ohio, he was a graduate of Princeton University, attended Union Theological Seminary, where he became a socialist, and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1911. Thomas opposed the United States' entry into the First World War, a position that earned him the disapproval of many in his soci...