Shirley Cruse Oral History Interview

Shirley Cruse talks about her work as a Certified Respiratory Technician at St. Vincent's and Christus St. Vincent's in Santa Fe, NM. She shares her experience starting with her union membership in District 1199 NM Hospital Workers Union in 1990 to the present. Cruse served as Vice president of the Technicians Bargaining Unit, as a delegate, and as the lead negotiator for the Nurses/Technicians in union contract negotiations from 1998-2011. Interview by Diane Pinkey.

The Working People's History of New Mexico Project (WPHNM) is an oral labor history project created to gather the labor stories of working people in New Mexico. While part of the interviews focus on the specific jobs that the interviewees performed, the interviews also explore labor-management relations as well as union, workers council, and social activism participation.  The interviews contain information about family and social relationships and offer themes of social and historical interest in New Mexico and the US.