Collective bargaining--Hospitals--United States

AFSCME Public Policy Analysis Department Records

jruss — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:17:10 -0400

Part 1 of the AFSCME Public Policy Analysis Department Records focuses on Deinstitutionalization, particularly at Wayne County General Hospital (WCGH). The hospital complex was located in western Wayne County, Michigan, approximately 16 miles west of downtown Detroit. Deinstitutionalization represented a major change in philosophy for mental health treatment delivery and was the term given to the process whereby mentally ill patients were moved out of large public hospitals and into smaller community-based treatment facilities. Typically, large public (state) hospitals were then closed. The process began in 1955 with the introduction of new psychiatric medications by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) into state hospitals. These new medicines offered the possibility of less-restrictive care for the mentally ill outside of the inpatient hospital setting. The deinstitutionalization trend accelerated after the passage of the Community Mental Health Centers Act in 1963 and then continued throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Part 2 of the AFSCME Public Policy Analysis Department Records consists of material related to AFSCME’s national effort to affect public policy in federal, state, and local governments during the 1970s. The department conducted research on issues with the potential to impact AFSCME members, especially matters of Social Security, cost of living, pensions, healthcare, deinstitutionalization, public health care, and unemployment. From this research, the Public Policy Analysis Department created reports and studies meant to influence the policy created by government agencies. The bulk of Part II of this collection represents AFSCME’s work in the debate on deinstitutionalization and health care reform efforts between 1973 and 1978.

Part 3 of the AFSCME Public Policy Analysis Department Records contains correspondence, memos, reports, data, news articles, studies, speeches, and testimonies. Large portions of the records pertain to mental health and deinstitutionalization. Other topics covered include taxes, Reagan-era budget cuts and other economic issues.

Oregon Federation of Teachers Records

dgolodner — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 15:46:19 -0500

The Oregon Federation of Teachers Collection includes both the papers of the OFT and the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP). The OFT was chartered in June 1952 and during that decade was successful in securing teacher tenure laws. During the 1960s and 1970s the OFT grew in size by organizing more workers in K-12, community college and higher education in faculty, nurses and classified positions. In the 1990s the OFT changed its’ name by convention to the Oregon Federation of Teachers, Education and Health Professionals (OFTHEP). The OFTHEP continued to help with locals in the state with bargaining, grievances and arbitrations.
The records of Oregon Federation of Teachers consist of correspondence and other materials relating to nurse, hospitals, health professionals, public employees, k-12 teachers as well as higher education faculty and staff. The collection has very good information on the issues facing various professions in the state of Oregon during the 1980s.

SEIU Executive Office: John Sweeney Records

ljones — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:52:45 -0500

For many, John Sweeney is known as the now former head of the AFL-CIO, a position from which he retired in 2009 after 14 years of service. For most of the previous 35 years, though, he was a member turned officer of the Service Employees International Union, having served 15 of those years as its President. The SEIU Executive Office: John Sweeney Records document his tenure during these 15 years, although portions of these records predate his tenure in that office.

The records contain files documenting the activities of SEIU local unions, joint councils and other SEIU affiliates. In addition, the files of SEIU executive board members, vice presidents, divisions, departments and staff members are also found within the collection, often within series identified in this manner. Researchers can also review records documenting the meetings, hearings, conventions and conferences Sweeney attended and at which he often spoke or testified. Records documenting SEIU's conventions from its inception in 1921 until 1992 are also found within these records. The records of the conventions reveal the major policy shifts of the union. Sweeney's interest in healthcare are also found within these records in addition to the union's external relationships with labor organizations and others.

Amy Zanoni discusses — Poor Health: Retrenchment and Resistance in Chicago’s Public Hospital

mcourtney — Thu, 30 Mar 2017 09:14:51 -0400

Please join the Reuther Library for a presentation from our latest Fishman grant recipient Wednesday April 5, 2017, at noon.

Amy Zanoni, a doctoral candidate from Rutgers University, will discuss her research into disinvestment, austerity measures, and privatization efforts beginning in the 1970s at the Cook County Hospital. read more »

(32651) Illinois State Hospital, AFSCME Local 26, Elgin, Illinois

mcourtney — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 10:41:48 -0500

Workers at the Illinois State Hospital in Elgin, Illinois raise their hands at a meeting in 1968.

(32661) AFSCME Local 420 demonstration

mcourtney — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 13:34:24 -0500

Members of AFSCME Local 420 in New York demonstrate in support of public hospitals. 1976.

(32863) Hospital closure demonstration

mcourtney — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 14:44:43 -0400

A woman holding a sign for Local 1199 Drug, Hospital and Healthcare Workers Union, in protest of cuts to health care spending in the New York, New York area.

(32865) AFSCME Local 1489 members march

mcourtney — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 13:01:19 -0400

Boston City Hospital Employees, AFSCME Local 1489, hold a banner at the 1983 March for Jobs, Peace, and Freedom in Washington, D. C.

(46540) AFSCME Local 1746 strike, Wurf

scaloia — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 16:31:35 -0500

A crowd of Local 1746 members and supporters watch AFSCME President Jerry Wurf on a snowy day in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Workers at Sunny Acres Hospital, near Cleveland, were on strike for union recognition for 75 days in 1967.

(46541) AFSCME Sunny Acres strike picket

scaloia — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 16:40:55 -0500

AFSCME Local 1746 members and supporters picket in Cuyahoga County, OH. The strike at Sunny Acres hospital lasted 11 weeks and resulted in recognition of the local and a contract.

(46719) AFSCME Local 1746 Sunny Acres Hospital agreement

scaloia — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 16:20:15 -0500

This image appeared in the May 1967 issue of AFSCME's Public Employee magazine with the caption: "Members of the Sunny Acres Hospital negotiating committees are joined by well-wishers following the signing of the contract that ended the long strike. Seated, from left, are Jesse Johnson, Walter Saunders, Muriel Hunter, Lily Robinson and John Moore. Standing, from left, are International Representative Robert Brindza; Bill Petite, assistant director of Council 78; James Moore, organizing committee chairman; Bill Van Zandt, International representative assigned to Michigan; George Forbes, Cleveland City Councilman; and Paul J. DeGrandis, director of Council 78."