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encouraged people to write. It's not easy to get them to write, but very often they are excited about an issue enough to write and to write in opposition to the position.

Why did you do that? Why did you feel that was important?

I wanted to create members' trust that their views meant something. You know, many editors will take a letter, throw it in the basket, “Never run this. It criticizes the leadership.” At one point, for example, when during the 1959 strike -- or was it '62 -- at one point, the management used to say that 1199 News is the uptown edition of the New York Post. Well, the New York Post is the downtown edition of 1199 News.

Okay. We should go back to --

Home care.

-- home care. We got off on a tangent, but I think you were talking about the 1991 campaign. Again, let's come back to the role of members. Wasn't there a huge rally down by the World Trade Center?

There was a one-day strike, 10,000 workers, down at the World Trade Center. I remember the signs they carried was “Dr. King's Dream is Still Alive. 1199.” And we had to make changes, move the people from one destination. They were at City Hall, and we had to get them to another destination, and they had to take the subways. We monitored that and didn't lose anybody. When you monitor the movement of 10,000 people by subway, I can see it now in my mind, Jerry Hudson shouting at people, “This is the train. Step in. Step lively,” etc.

Jerry Hudson was --

Executive vice president.

Who spoke at that rally?

The home-care workers, like Dennis Polk, Jackson --

Wasn't Laura Jones a home-care worker?

Laura Jones, yes, a home-care worker. She was a very, very effective person and became a delegate. She was a true rank-and-file leader, and she could speak and come across clear and loud and with respect and dignity.

Did you get her onto a television interview as well?