Nine to Five was a new union formed by Karen Nussbaum in Boston in 1973. She saw her fellow office workers and secretaries were overworked, were underpaid, and seldom had the respect male employees enjoyed. Her first victory was to organize the librarians at Brandeis University, the first time professional librarians in the United States joined a labor union.

By 1975 Nine to Five affiliated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) as Local 925 and spread rapidly to other cities. The introduction of computers in the workplace changed the role of many office workers, presenting new health and safety concerns. Nine to Five was quick to recognize these work issues and offered white-collar office staffers militant union representation. Although union membership had dropped to twenty million by 1970, 54 percent of American women now worked outside the home, and these thirty-two million women in the labor force...