1199 has always stood for a better life for its members and their families and for decent health care for all.

Founded as a drugstore union in 1932, 1199 had only 5,000 members when it began organizing the forgotten workers in New York's voluntary hospitals in the late 1950s. A union of mostly Jewish male pharmacists linked its future with mostly African American and Hispanic women who worked in rich hospitals for miserable wages. In May 1959, workers at seven hospitals began the 46-day strike that established 1199 as THE health care union in New York.

What lessons can be learned from 1199's first 40 years? The 5,000 drug store 1199ers who first decided to organize hospital workers might say, "An injury to one is an injury to all." The hospital workers who walked the 1959 picketlines might add, quoting Frederick Douglass, "If there is no struggle there can be no progress."

The union of 5,000 members that dared to challenge New York's voluntary hospitals 40 years ago now has 300,000 members and is widely respected as a national leader in democratic, effective, socially concerned trade unionism. Health care workers and consumers throughout New York State -- from the home care worker in Brooklyn to the hospital patient in Buffalo -- will benefit from 1199's growing size, vision and power in the new millennium. Some 15 SEIU healthcare Locals throughout New York State, the District of Columbia, Maryland and Massachusetts have merged with 1199 and today are part of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.

For more information on 1199, read "Upheaval in the Quiet Zone," a 1989 history by Leon Fink and Brian Greenberg.

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New York's Health & Human Service Union
1199/SEIU, AFL-CIO
310 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
212-582-1890