MSOL, MAOL, MBA, and Bachelor’s Degrees in Organizational Leadership in South Carolina

How Local Union Leadership Helped Bring About Lasting Change to Discriminatory Workplace Policies in South Carolina

In 1968, South Carolina nurses along with other allied health workers banded together to lead the Charleston Hospital Workers Movement, setting out to change the ugly face of workplace discrimination that had gone unchecked for far too long. In lock step with the national Civil Rights movement, a group of employees at the Medical College Hospital in Charleston decided they had enough of the disrespectful and discriminatory workplace practices black nurses and other minority medical staff were subject to, and they decided to strike.

The move evoked a strong response from hospital administration, with five African American nurse’s aides accused of insubordination and summarily fired. In truth, though, the aides had walked off the job in protest after being prevented from reading the medical charts of patients under their care.

When the incident made headlines and the news reached local activists like William Saunders, the reality of discrimination within the hospital system came sharply in to focus and the movement grew.

The 1968 walk-off was the first of many strikes. Union leaders, church organizations, and grassroots leaders flocked to Charleston to fight for equity in the workplace. After more than a year of protests and strikes, a settlement was finally reached between the Medical College Hospital and Union 1199B, which represented hospital workers in the state.

All strikers were ultimately rehired with pay increases, and the hospital agreed to abide by a transparent grievance process for employees. The outcome was a positive change for some 25,000 hospital workers in South Carolina, and a strong example of how organizational leaders from groups like Union 1199B and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) could come together to effect real change.