"This article explores the history of the Tennessee Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (TNCOSH) as it formed in East Tennessee in 1979, specifically addressing how local women contributed to the organization at the grassroots. Based largely on oral history research, the article lays out the early goals of TNCOSH as a democratic, alternative labor organization and addresses how the organization's structure affected the roles of rank-and-file women who participated in it. Ultimately, the bottom-up structure of TNCOSH made it possible for women to participate in various roles, including leadership positions that have often been closed to women in traditional trade unions."

Support: Paper