A Union for Appalachian Healthcare Workers: The Radical Roots and Hard Fights of Local 1199 by John Hennen

The National Union of Hospital and Healthcare Workers was formed in New York City in 1969, but that is such an awkward name that when it first started organizing there, the local it formed, 1199 became the universal name for it. That easier name continued when the union expanded into Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Virginia, and Kentucky. This book’s subtitle is key as Hennen begins this book with a look at the radical forces of the 1970s that were spoiling for a fight and prepared to jump to the defense of essential but grossly underpaid and overworked hospital workers. They helped create an atmosphere where a variety of people felt that they deserved social justice and that encouraged workers to feel they were not alone in their struggles. That also is a key lesson for today: progressives and labor leaders maximize their power when they work together! “How did a union of healthcare workers founded in New York City by radical Russian immigrants and composed primarily of Black and H