Interview with Eloise Pyle Bevins and Anna Mae Fields, July 2, 1987

Interview Summary

Bevins talks about the working conditions and duties of dietary workers in the hospital. She talks about the staffing and pay issues she faced. She and Fields also talk about the relationships between the kitchen staff and their supervisor. Bevins and Fields talk about organizing in the hospital as well as the terminations that started the strike. Bevins and Fields talks about their experiences picketing, including Bevins nearly being run over by a board member and attempting to stop strikebreakers. Bevins talks about the opposition for the strike within her own family. They talk about their childhoods, education, and personal lives.

Interview Keyword

Pikeville Methodist Hospital Unionization Terminations Workplaces Households Communications Workers of America (CWA) Pike County (Ky.) United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Kitchen staff

Interview LC Subject

Women in the labor movement Hospital and community. Picketing. Strikes and lockouts--Kentucky Labor unions--Strike benefits Communities Hospitals--Employees--Salaries, etc. Collective labor agreements Protest and social movements Women political activists Strikebreakers Occupations Communications Workers of America

Interview Rights

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Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.