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pharmacy, and was put on staff. A lot of people moved in and moved around. This is a period, the hospital division -- everything -- is growing. The contracts are improving, and getting better all the time. Of course we are still in a period where Davis has worked out the theory that the passthrough, that the state is going to reimburse the hospitals. So he is going all out and getting all kinds of goodies -- getting major improvements in benefits and pensions. He's adding a training program, an upgrading program. We're getting a lot of things in benefits and pensions so that the health and medical plan is a model. Really. From a point where they had nothing to a very very strong one. It's self-insured, it's our own plan because we had it from the drug section of the union, so we built on top of it.

We have our strikes, 1974. I think we have this pay board strike. That's a strike that we did not win. That was a time -- I think it's 1974. Nixon? When's the pay board, the freeze?

I'm afraid I don't remember. Nixon's gone by 1973 in any event.

So it could be 1972. The increase that we won was in excess of the wage price board, the guideline. Therefore they cut it back, and we went on strike. We were the only union in the United States to strike in defiance of it. We struck for about eight, nine days. The hospitals went after us because we were in violation of the contract. I remember I disagreed with Davis and I thought it was a mistake. When we evaluated it I was the only one who got up and said, “I think it was a mistake.” He thought it was the right thing to do. He had the feeling politically that Rockefeller would be able to bail us out with Nixon. I was saying to him, “My God, Rockefeller and Nixon are at each other's throats! They're enemies -- you can't count on that.” We had to settle for less than we had wanted. We had a good strike, but we also were fined something like 375,000 dollars for it -- and we paid the fine. [laughs] It was cheap. [laughter] When is Black Power?

I think we pretty much dealt with it. You know, 1968-1969.

I guess -- 1973. Well, that's about it. It's a period of growth.

It also sounds like a stabilizing --

But it's hectic. It's growth all the time. It's just organizing.

Do you ever remember being tired, in this period? Or in any other period?