July 16, 1976
NEW YORK, July 7--Some 40,000 members of District 1199, National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, struck voluntary (private) hospitals in this city at 6:00 a.m. today.

Immediately affected are thirty-four hospitals. On July 10, the strike is scheduled to be extended to thirteen nursing homes employing 3,000 union members and to 1,500 workers at nine municipal hospitals who fall under 1199 jurisdiction. About 60 percent of the city's hospital capacity will be affected.

The union represents technical, clerical, and maintenance workers at the struck hospitals--virtually all employees except doctors and nurses. Despite the obvious danger to patients that is involved, the hospitals plan to maintain operations at near-normal levels.

A hospital official put it this way: "We're very conscious that every time we have an empty bed we have lost income. We have to practice sound business as well as sound medicine."

Dr. Jay Dobkin, head of the Committee of Interns and Residents, the doctors union at the hospitals, blasted the attitude of the administrators. "We think it irresponsible and dangerous to patients for the hospitals to maintain business as usual to break the strike. "The strike is one that the union did not want, but had forced on it by the employers association, the League of Voluntary Hospitals and Homes of New York. The league represents twenty-eight of the thirty-four struck hospitals and the nursing homes.

District 1199 is one of the largest unions in the city. It has taken relatively good positions on important social issues. About 70 percent of the membership is Black or Puerto Rican, and more than half are women.

July 16, 1951
United Labor Policy Committee representatives of the CIO, AFL and independent unions meeting this week in Washington complain that the Defense Mobilization Act now in the process of enactment by the House and Senate will "raise the cost of living a dollar a day for each American family." They are, no doubt right.

But all the labor bureaucrats have done to express what they call their "grave dissatisfaction" with Congress' failure to stabilize the cost of living is to urge people to write or wire their congressmen. The Big Business–controlled Congress has so disgusted the workers that they feel this pressure-by-mail campaign is useless.

The workers would like to see some real action to control prices. They agree with the statement made by the three labor members when they withdrew from the Wage Stabilization Board last Feb. 16: "The Stabilization Program is a cynical hoax on the American people." It was a hoax in February and it is still a hoax.

When the ULPC pulled all labor representatives out of government boards last Feb. 28, it proposed the establishment of local consumer committees of housewives, unionists, farmers and small businessmen in a fight against high prices. This program died aborning. Not a single top labor leader moved a finger to bring it to life.

Now the ULPC has delayed withdrawing from the government boards again, as proposed by CIO representative Emil Rieve, until the Defense Mobilization Act is passed.

It was an excellent idea last February to organize consumers committees to fight high prices. Had this proposal been put into effect, labor would not be getting the short end of the stick today.  
 
 
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