The workers picketed--before and after their shifts only--in protest of Keady's firing, and the incipient union quickly grew to include a large majority of them. But Fertel repeatedly refused to meet with them to discuss their grievances.

The showdown came when Fertel fired a kitchen-worker who was unable to perform his old job because of swollen hands. The workers claimed that there was no reason for the firing. The kitchen-worker could have been transferred to a new job. They demanded that Fertel reinstate the kitchen-worker and Keady and that he recognize the union.

Ninety workers sat-in Fertel's office to dramatize the demands. After about three hours Fertel gave in and agreed to negotiate with the union.

SDS's help was important, probably crucial, to the victory. Its support consisted mainly of a commitment of time by about 25 students. In the early critical stages of organizing they stood outside the hospital from 6:30 to 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. several days a week leafleting and talking with workers as they came on duty. They also attended all the evening union meetings and advised on strategy. They manned the picket lines and stirred up support for the movement among various professional men, clergymen, and Jewish organizations in the community. But about the only material aid that SDS could contribute was the use of its mimeograph machine.

Local 35

The Hospital Workers Association at Jewish Memorial became Local 35 of the International Union of Wholesale and Retail Department Store Workers this fall. Keady, now president of the Jewish Memorial union, and SDS decided to affiliate with a major union in the hope of getting financial help for their organizing campaign against the GBHC hospitals.

The present drive is still in its initial, most difficult stages at most of the hospitals. The first task of the organizers is to win over a core of workers who will form an organizing committee inside the hospital. Ideally, the organizers will place a union sympathiser in each department who can talk to people and sign them up during work. At Jewish Memorial SDS had a ready-made fifth column in the two workers who approached them. But they are starting more from scratch at the GBHC hospitals.

Steven W. Raudenbush '68, a member of the SDS Labor Committee, who spends fifteen hours a week outside a hospital, described the early groundwork for putting together the fifth column: "You try to talk to people as they come to work. Usually, I start by asking them if they've heard of the union at Jewish Memorial. Often they just say 'yes' or 'no' and walk on. That doesn't necessarily mean they aren't interested: it's cold or they're in a hurry. You have to expect to go slow. You have to let them take the initiative. Sometimes one will show more interest and want to talk. All the time, I'm memorizing faces. I'm getting to know who are the potential leaders--whom you can talk with and whom you can't."

After about a week and a half of leafleting and talking last fall outside the several large hospitals, SDS called a general membership meeting of non-professional workers at all the hospitals. About 50 or 60 showed up, and Raudenbush considers that a good turn-out. They signed up several workers that day and the inside organizing committees were alive in several of the hospitals.

But that's a small beginning considering that there are 4000 to 5000 workers in this hospital complex. It will take a lot more work before the organizers win over a majority of the workers, a task that took just about a month and a half at Jewish Memorial.

Favorable, But Cautious

SDS characterizes the majority of these several thousand workers as favorable to a union, but very cautious. "Most of them want to sign up," Raudenbush said, "but they won't unless they think everyone else is." Consequently, after the hard-core inside organizing committee is formed, the union's task is to win over the cautious by generating confidence that the movement is snowballing.

At Jewish Memorial confidence was quite effectively generated with a lunchroom boycott. Most workers who favor the union -- no matter how slightly -- will participate in a tactic of such low-level provocation. "You can't get fired for not eating lunch," Raudenbush remarked. He estimated that even if only one-fourth of the workers are actually signed up on union cards, this tactic would get support from a majority. The boycott showed the administration at Jewish Memorial the solidarity of the workers. More important it showed the workers their own strength.

Most unions have their battle won when they get majority support. The state labor relations law requires man- agement to recognize a union which a majority of the workers in a shop have voted to authorize. But non-professional hospital workers are not covered by the law.

The right to strike is a delicate question where hospital worker's are concerned. "We'd never try to shut a hospital down," Raudenbush said, "Workers wouldn't go along. Any strike we would have would be of non-essential workers and there'd be plenty of notice so that the hospital could get volunteers to take their place." Such a strike can still be a powerful weapon. It would be very costly if a hospital had to call in a catering service to replace its kitchen staff, for example.