National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees series 5. Charleston Medical College Hospital Strike interviews, 1979-1980, bulk 1980.

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National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees series 5. Charleston Medical College Hospital Strike interviews, 1979-1980, bulk 1980.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/64755457

Includes interviews of nine individuals who were associated with the strike of hospital workers at Charleston Medical College in 1969. Consist of interviews with David White (vice president, 1199); Clarence Singletary (judge, Charleston, S.C.); Bill Saunders (community leader, politician); Mary Moultries (hospital worker and president of hospital workers' Charleston local); Reverend Henry Grant (Episcopal minister); Reverend Thomas Duffy (Catholic priest); John Wise (administrator, Charleston Medical College); Isaiah Bennett (president, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), Charleston local); and Andrew Young (civil rights leader and politician). Topics relating to the participation of state, local and federal governments, courts, police and military include the activities of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare and Department of Labor in the strike settlement; the use of injunctions to prevent pickets from blocking entrances to the hospital; right to work, right to picket and right to strike laws; the National Guard's enforcement of peace and order under martial law during the strike; meetings of the mayor, merchants, civic leaders, and New York attornies; individual vs. collective rights to strike and protest; the mayor of Charleston's and other local politicians' stands on union organizing; the effects of economic boycotts and curfews on Charleston residents; the alleged conservatism of local politicians; the integration of the Charleston City Council; and Governor Bob McCain's influence on strike settlement. Issues relating to the organizing campaign include the economic boycott of the city of Charleston; opportunism and competition between civil rights, religious, labor and community groups; vandalism and violence; the development of the hospital strike into a national civil rights event; the exclusion of local community leaders from strike settlement meetings; civil rights, labor and community issues as part of social change; threats of violence against hospital boards of trustees; the effects of the strike settlement on hospital workers' working conditions, wages, hours of work, integration of schools, housing, training programs, black voter registration, establishment of a hiring hall and dues collection; firing of hospital workers; and post-strike administration of the hospital's local union. Topics concerning Charleston community organizations include meetings between the Charleston Concerned Citizens Committee, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and various community leaders; formation of the bi-racial Community Relations Committee; black community support for the economic boycott; the organization of black community leaders; donations of food, money, and services; the willingness to face arrest; and the effects of the strike on home and family life in Charleston. Issues pertaining to the Charleston Medical College Hospital administration and strikers include the development of a modern personnel policy, fringe benefits, methods of recruitment, training, and wage policy; hospital reaction to union demands; the racial composition of hospital workers; the influence of state directives on hospital negotiations; grievance handling; the dismissal and reinstatement of strikers; meetings between hospital administrators, strikers, and community leaders; post-strike worker morale; the locus of militancy in hospital strikers; racial discrimination and hospital workers; civil rights, and civic and religious leaders' role in the strike; the status of hospital workers in the community; the issues which precipitated the hospital strike; the hospital's treatment of black patients; a comparison of working conditions in hospitals in New York City and Charleston; and grievances of hospital workers which precipitated union organization. Information regarding the participation of civil rights organizations in the Charleston strike includes the development of a strategy of organizing religious organizations and families and raising black consciousness; SCLC attempts to close the port of Charleston and isolate the city; the relationship of SCLC to 1199; the civil rights movement in Charleston; contacts between Martin Luther King and Leon Davis; the Poor People's Campaign to integrate the civil rights movement into the struggle for labor organization; and minimum wage. Also discussed are Stanley Levinson's role in relations between SCLC and 1199; Andrew Young's and September Clark's work in Charleston; the Charleston Citizen Education Program; SCLC's tactic of staging massive boycotts to force city officials to negotiate a hospital strike settlement; cooperation of Charleston's black community leaders with civil rights groups; black militant reaction to 1199 leadership; the reception of Coretta Scott King in Charleston; Stokely Carmichael's visit to Charleston; the relationship between militant black leaders and the white business community; participation of the Black Panthers in the Charleston demonstration; the jailing of Ralph Abernathy to prevent his participation in strike settlement meetings; and the participation of September Clark, Essau Jenkins, and Stokely Carmichael in demonstrations and strike activities. Issues concerning 1199's contacts with the hospital workers and participation in strike activities include organizational meetings conducted by Dave White; participation of Elliott Godoff, Moe Foner, Henry Nicholas, Doris Turner, and Dave White in the Charleston organizing campaign; 1199's attempts to extend the strike to other community hospitals; the failure to negotiate a contract between the hospital and the local hospital union; 1199's financial support of the local union; 1199's intention to use the Charleston campaign as a stepping stone to organizing southern hospital workers; 1199's failure to build contacts with local leaders and workers; and Walter Reuther's participation in the strike. Topics concerning Charleston clergy and religious groups include meetings held at churches; participation of clergy in local community politics; the role of the church in the southern community; early contacts between strikers and the clergy; participation of clergymen in meetings with the mayor and strikers; United Fund withdrawal of financial support for Catholic charities; the Catholic Bishop's support for black workers; the white Catholic community's reaction to Father Duffy's relations with civil rights groups; the Reverend Henry Grant's role as interpreter between the black and white communities; and Bill Saunders' and Reverend Grant's efforts to reach a strike settlement without union authorization. Data about Charleston's local labor movement include information on contacts between the RWDSU local and 1199; the relative strength of Charleston's labor unions; the American Tobacco Strike of 1944; the integration of unions in Charleston; Urban League training programs for black workers; the participation of local labor leaders and South Carolina American Federation of Labor leaders in the Charleston strike; attempts to secure arbitration rights for hospital workers; the relationship between RWDSU staff and 1199 organizers; local organizing strength of various unions; civil rights and local community leaders' positions on union recognition; the strike of local sanitation men; and the organizing campaign for clothing workers.

9 transcripts (258 p.)

Cornell University Library

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7918990

Cornell University Library

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