District 1199NM
District 1199NM
National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees
 

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The Beginning of District 1199NM
Mar 07, 2024

The Foundation

The roots of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, AFSCME, AFL-CIO go back to June 7, 1932, when a group of pharmacists founded the Pharmacists Union of Greater New York, which later acquired the name 1199. It was in 1958, when Leon Davis, then President of Local 1199, and Elliot Godoff, a pioneer hospital organizer, gave a proposal to organize hospital workers to the Drug Store Union.

Hospital workers were forgotten people: There was no minimum wage law, no unemployment insurance, no disability benefits, no collective bargaining rights, and virtually no job protection. It was, in fact, illegal for hospital workers to join a Union. Local 1199 voted to commit their Union’s money to help the hospital workers win their Union rights, and in 1958, Montefiore Medical Center was the first hospital organized by Local 1199. The organizing of hospital workers spread around the country, but most of all to the workers of what is now District 1199.

The Beginning

In the summer of 1974, poor working conditions at St Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe incited a group of nurses to organize a nurses' club. This group of nurses’ voices has evolved into an influential union whose voice now resounds throughout the Rio Grande Valley and New Mexico. District 1199NM has become an institution that provides for unity, camaraderie, and, most of all, justice, and social action.       

In 1974, a group of RNs, led by Billie Rose and Annette “Pete” Kingsbury met every day at lunch to discuss how bad the working conditions at St. Vincent had become. These nurses decided to have a meeting to organize an RN club in an attempt to develop policies that would improve patient care at St. Vincent Hospital.

Issues included concern for patient care. The nurses had complaints about the working conditions. Conditions such as no weekends off unless the employee had previously worked 14 consecutive days, no paid maternity leave, no wage increase for tenure or experience, poor shift differentials, and lack of notice in schedule postings, and changes. Overall, the working conditions left the nurses feeling overworked and unable to provide the best standard of patient care.

Meanwhile, the Taft-Hartley Act of 1974 had been signed. This new legislation gave nurses the right to organize and collectively bargain around the country. In an attempt to take full advantage of the new legislation, Billie Rose had gathered addresses in order to organize her co-workers. She was accused of using her position as nurse supervisor to collect hospital information, and as a result, was terminated.

The whole hospital was shocked and upset at the termination of Billie Rose. They decided to call a meeting at Palin Hall to discuss what could be done to reinstate her position. To their amazement, all different types of workers had come out to support Billie Rose, from nurses to housekeepers. With a petition full of supporters, the nurses had drawn enough attention that Billie Rose was reinstated at St. Vincent.

This was a pivotal point in the organizing of St. Vincent. It was the first time the group of nurses had realized the power of solidarity and a united voice. The initial intention of the nurses club was to develop a policy that would improve patient care and working conditions, but the hospital did not want to listen or take their suggestions. This demonstration had given the nurses the strength to move forward, they would organize a union.

The nurses continued to meet outside the hospital to develop a Professional Performance Association. The nurses knew that it would be a difficult campaign, and despite the administrators' and lawyers' attempts to intimidate the nurses, they decided to petition for an election. 

On November 7th, 1974, the LPNs and RNs had the election to establish the Professional Performance Association. They were voting on two separate issues: whether to have the union, and whether or not the RNs and LPNs would be represented as one bargaining unit. The union had won the vote 113 to 23 and the RNs and LPNs would indeed be a single bargaining unit. The nurses at St. Vincent nurses were the first for over a thousand miles around to have submitted a petition to organize a union. When their first contract was implemented, working conditions, wages, and patient care improved dramatically.

The Professional Performance Association was a great beginning to the formation of the union at St. Vincent, but in order to gain more support against the hospital in contract negotiations, they decided it was time to seek national representation. An election was held to determine whether the nurses wanted to affiliate with the National Union of Hospital and Healthcare employees.

The nurses at St. Vincent had voted in favor of national representation, but St. Vincent fought hard against it. St Vincent had filed charges against the decision and the National Labor Relations board ruled in favor of the Professional Performance Association, and we officially became District 1199NM.

It has now been nearly fifty years since the first group of nurses decided to organize on the principles of patient care and to improve the working conditions and lives of health care workers. Today, District 1199NM represents Christus St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe, The University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, Holy Cross Hospital in Taos, Los Alamos Medical Center, Alta Vista Regional Medical Center in Las Vegas, New Mexico and First Choice workers in and around Albuquerque.

The enormous strides made by our Union have come about through the SOLIDARITY of our membership. In these days of division and discord in our country, the members of our Union have demonstrated that working people, differing in race, religion, and political beliefs, can respect each other and work together for the benefit of all New Mexicans. Today, District 1199NM continues to grow stronger every day.


New Mexico Hospital Workers Union
6201 Uptown Blvd. NE, Suite 201
Albuquerque, NM 87110
  505.884.7713

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