Upheaval in the Quiet Zone: 1199/SEIU and the Politics of Healthcare Unionism (Working Class in American History)

This new second edition updates the dramatic story of 1199SEIU, an insurgent labor union that eventually established itself as a vital force in the modern labor movement. When SEIU president Andrew Stern laid plans in 2006 for a new national health care workers union that would both 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.