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SCLC & Hospital Workers
Hospital
Workers RALLY 'Up South'
by
Joshua Watson
Baltimore Afro-American
August
16, 1969
Enthusiasm wasn't dampened, despite the absence of SCLC
(Southern Christian leadership Conference) president, Ralph
David Abernathy, at a rally for Baltimore hospital workers at
the Emerson Hotel this week.
300 cheering hospital workers welcomed the rev. Bernard
Lee, an executive of SCLC, and heard him say that "the
chairman of SCLC called a meeting of the board in Charleston,
S.C., and that is why the Reverend couldn't be here tonight.
"He sent me in his place."
The elated workers heard Mr. Lee declare that
"Baltimore is one of the most broken down cities in
America. As black folk we helped build this country. We are
going to stand up like proud people and not beg.
"We live down south, you live up south . . . as we
carry on in Charleston, you must carry on in Baltimore . . .
we won a
wonderful victory in Charleston . . . after 100 days we were
able to win union recognition and bargaining power with the
hospitals there. . . . This is what we call 'soul' power. . . .
"I may be black but I am somebody. . . . repeat
after me, union power, union power. We are going to sock it to
Baltimore. . . . We are going to tear down the walls of
injustice in Baltimore."
Other speakers who supported the hospital union said:
"Hospital workers have been the most notoriously exploited
of blacks in the city. . . .unionize or stay dehumanized. . .if
you don't vote you are a dope. . . In union there is strength
and, by golly, we need strength." --Parren Mitchell.
"It is a sad story that a lot of people haven't
caught the spirit of unionization.
"Brother Nixon's proposal for curing welfare and
poverty doesn't even began to start. How do you expect a man in
this rising economy to live on $1,600 a year? How in the world
can a man raise a family in dignity when he doesn't have it
himself?
"I want to know if you have any soul this evening.
Get with it or get out.
"Aunt Janes, Nervous Nellies, and Uncle Toms: the
whites have them continuing to divide the blacks. We have got to
stand together and speak with one tongue.
"If you need us in Baltimore, we will come and turn
it upside down and right side up again. We are not only black
and beautiful but we have some sense."
Via modern telephone hook-up to Charleston, the workers
heard the voice of Mr. Abernathy say "physically I am in
Charleston, spiritually my mind is miles away in Baltimore. . .
. in the big cities of the north."
Mrs. Willa Turman, Johns Hopkins Hospital employee:
"Whenever a promotion was available, management passed us
by. . . . Hospital workers will no longer settle for
second-class citizenship. . . . We know now better than ever
that only the strong survive."
Mrs. Mary Bell, Lutheran Hospital employee: "Boss
said you will be fired if you take part in union activity. . . .
They may kill the dreamer, but they will not kill the
dream."
Miss Flora MacNair, North Charles General Hospital
employee: "We are the victims of these circumstances. . .
we have the skills and qualifications to succeed."
Troy Brailey, Maryland House of Delegates: "People
working in hospital forty years don't get any money when they
retire. . . . what seniority rights do you have? None."
Miss Doris Turner, national vice-pres. of Local 1199:
"In July, '66, w, the hospital workers in New York, signed
a contract with a minimum wage of $100 a week for hospital
workers. . . . several years ago we were paid $32 a week.
"If you love the boss vote NO; if you love
yourselves vote YES. . . .
we are going to stop singing we shall overcome and sing:
we have overcome."
Organization of non-professional workers at Johns
Hopkins, Lutheran, and North Charles General Hospital have been
going on for several months by Local 1199E.
Local 1199E's program include minimum wages of $100 a
week, job classification program, job training and upgrading,
pension plan, grievance procedure, full seniority rights, and
other benefits.
Voting will take place by secret ballot Aug. 22 at
Lutheran, Aug. 28 and 29 at Hopkins, and Sept 5 at North Charles
General Hospital.
Fred Punch, Area Director of Local 1199E: "We have
come a long way in Baltimore. . . . an injury to one is an
injury to all. . . . if we can crack Johns Hopkins, this
Goliath, this monster of all the hospitals in Baltimore, the
other hospitals will fall. . . if any of the big shots in the
hospital were compelled to live on our salaries, they would
choke on their lies."
Elliot Godoff, National Director, Organizing Committee
of Hospital
and Nursing Home Employees: "Before the union came they
didn't know you had arrived. . . . I don't believe there is
going to be a strike in Baltimore because they are afraid of
you. . . . There are more talents, more brains that go to waste
because of discrimination in the hospitals."
John Lorden, Acting Regional Dir. of AFL-CIO: "You
can't get into a hospital under $45 a day. . . . I wonder how
management can keep paying slave-labor wages to employees of the
hospital."
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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Debt: The First 5,000 Years
By David Graeber
Before there was money, there was debt. Every economics textbook says the same thing: Money was invented to replace onerous and complicated barter systems—to relieve ancient people from having to haul their goods to market. The problem with this version of history? There’s not a shred of evidence to support it. Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom. He shows that for more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods—that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors. Graeber shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Italy to China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates that the language of the ancient works of law and religion (words like “guilt,” “sin,” and “redemption”) derive in large part from ancient debates about debt, and shape even our most basic ideas of right and wrong. We are still fighting these battles today without knowing it. Debt: The First 5,000 Years is a fascinating chronicle of this little known history—as well as how it has defined human history, and what it means for the credit crisis of the present day and the future of our economy. Economist Glenn Loury /Criminalizing a Race
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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posted 24 July 2008 |
