This expanded second edition of Upheaval in the Quiet Zone updates the dramatic story of an insurgent labor union that by the end of the 1980s had established itself as a vital force in the modern labor movement. But even bigger changes were on the way. Overcoming internal divisions that originated in its 1930s-inflected and civil rights-era militancy, 1199SEIU adopted a new strategy of labor-management cooperation to emerge as a key player in state and city politics. When SEIU president Andrew Stern laid plans in 2006 for a new national health care workers union that would simultaneously reach out to the unorganized and campaign for universal, national health insurance, he turned to 1199 president Dennis Rivera--and the 1199 political model--to lead the effort. With new material that updates the union's history since the 1990s, this book conveys the promise and problems of movement-building in the twenty-first century health care industry.
Introduction to the Second Edition ix
Introduction xi
1 Before the Union: The Hospital Worker as Involuntary Philanthropist 1
2 Awakening at Montefiore: The Hospital That Refused to Fight 28
3 The Brewing Storm: Organizing from the Ground Up 44
4 The Battle of '59: Anatomy of a Hospital Strike 63
5 Staying Alive: The Search for Legal Recognition 91
6 Coming of Age: Building an Effective Union in the 1960s 112
7 Stayed on Freedom: A Labor Crusade behind the Magnolia Curtain 129
8 High Expectations and Harsh Realities: Confronting a Changing Health Care System in the 1970s 159
9 1199 Exceptionalism: Taking Stock of the First Generation 181
10 Union Power, Soul Power: When the Solution Becomes the Problem 209
11 Picking Up the Pieces: 1199's Recipe for Revival in the Dennis Rivera Era 244
12 1199 Exceptionalism Revisited: The Politics of Partnership 262
Epilogue: SEIU Healthcare---Rx for Growth or a Family Feud? 287
Notes 301
List of Interviews 349
Index 351
