[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 192 (Thursday, December 17, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E3035-E3036]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PAYING TRIBUTE TO THE HEALTHCARE WORKERS UNION 1199 SEIU AS THEY MARK 
                         THEIR 50TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 16, 2009

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, this year marks the 50th Anniversary of 
1199 SEIU as a healthcare workers union. For the union, the last 50 
years have been challenging ones. Through its efforts, much has changed 
for the better, and they have been a large part of that change. In the 
words of founder and former president Leon Davis, it is a history of 
``tough struggles and pioneering advances, decent wages, and working 
conditions instead of poverty, respect on the job instead of contempt, 
security instead of fear, and hope instead of despair.''
  The 1199 changed history in 1959 when a drugstore union made up of 
pharmacists joined the Civil Rights Movement and set out to organize 
30,000 predominantly Black and Latino workers in New York City's 
voluntary hospitals. The union succeeded in signing their first 
collective bargaining agreement with Montefiore Medical Center that 
year. Today, the union is 350,000 healthcare workers strong, in 
hospitals, nursing homes, and homecare agencies throughout New York, 
New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Washington, DC. And they 
continue to grow despite these difficult times.
  Aside from raising labor standards and restoring dignity to their 
members, 1199 has been a leading force for social and economic justice 
for all. It is why Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called 1199 his 
``favorite union.'' And it is why they were the only labor union 
Malcolm X chose to speak before. The union was once the headquarters 
for Cesar Chavez's national grape and lettuce boycotts, as well as the 
headquarters for Nelson Mandela's visit to New York when he was 
released from prison. In all its years of activism in electoral 
politics, the union's greatest crowning achievement was in 2008, when 
it dispatched thousands of members--many of them for several months--to 
help elect Barack Obama as our nation's first African-American 
president.
  For all its achievements over the many years of service, including 
being champions of worker rights, I applaud 1199 on its 50th 
anniversary and have pledged to its president, George Gresham, that the 
union can continue to count on my strong support in the many years 
ahead.
  So Madam Speaker, I ask that you and my distinguished colleagues join 
me in celebrating the 50th anniversary of 1199 United Healthcare 
Workers East of the Service Employees International Union. As 1199 
looks back at its historic accomplishments over the last 50 years, 
let's join it in looking forward to the next 50 years, meeting the 
challenges that lie ahead with the same spirit, determination, and 
strength that has shaped who it continues to be today.

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