Reflections on a Union legacy: Mike O’Brien

May 2, 2013

NORTH ADAMS - Mike O’Brien, a union delegate a North Adams Regional Hospital for more than three decades, recently retired from his position as a respiratory therapist at the hospital and has left behind a legacy that includes union activism, political advocacy, fighting for the rights of workers and serving the patients of NARH and the community.



Having served in the army as an operating room tech, Mike returned to civilian life in 1968. With a wife and small child to take care of, Mike decided to pursue a healthcare career.

“A hospital in New York was starting an oxygen department,” he said. “I went to school full time during the day and worked at the hospital during the evening. I just stayed in it and eventually received my registration.”



In 1977, Mike began working at North Adams Regional Hospital. While working at the hospital, Mike decided that there needed to be changes in how the facility was managed.



“The department that I was in was comprised of myself, one other person who had been there for years and the manager. The manager was getting away with a lot of stuff that we didn’t think was right. We had these clandestine meetings with SEIU Local 285 representatives. I just felt that more could be done in a union than individually,” he said.

At that point, Mike decided to speak with other workers at the facility about forming a union with Local 285. In 1979, in the face of an unpopular administrator, workers at NARH decided to form a union. Healthcare workers at NARH participated in an extensive campaign to rally “yes” votes and hold an election. In 1980, a one-year contract was negotiated and approved by the new union membership at the hospital.



“Local 285 was the best thing for us. The leadership kept things above board and honest. I saw first-hand that they didn’t try to cut corners,” Mike said of the leadership.