Marketization and Mobilization: California Healthcare Worker Organizing in the Era of Managed Care

Pablo Gaston
Sociology
UC Berkeley

This dissertation examined the history of the unionization of healthcare workers in California since the 1980s, with a particular focus on the 1980s and early 1990s. While unionization rates in most industries have declined in recent decades, they have increased in hospitals and nursing homes, particularly in California. This research sought to understand the connections between this surprising union growth and the transformations of large healthcare delivery systems. The grantee sought support from the UCHRI Graduate Research Travel grant to visit the Walter Reuther Archives at Wayne State University in Detroit. The Reuther Archives hold the papers of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of the largest and most important healthcare unions in California.