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