As an RN of 29 years and a CNA/NNOC RN who witnessed the dramatic vote for change by St. Rose Las Vegas RNs, who voted by 53% for CNA/NNOC, I am proud to post this diary today.
In the last few years, America’s RNs have formed—at last—a National Nurses’ Movement, with the creation of the first national union of RNs. So far we are 80,000 RNs banding together for guaranteed healthcare, nursing practice, and a progressive labor movement, and that number grows daily. As patient advocates we believe that this is the only path towards making sure that every one of our patients get the care they deserve.
You may know CNA/NNOC for its political profile, but it is the nurse organizing that has allowed us to make a difference for RNs across the country. Here’s a quick update on the incredible progress we’re making just this week:
- A historic Texas election victory was upheld over employer objections. Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center in Houston is now officially the first hospital in Texas ever to be unionized. Welcome!
- Over 1,100 RNs at three Las Vegas hospitals gave their union a vote of no confidence, as the first step in an attempt to join CNA/NNOC and the National Nurses Movement. RNs at the facility filed a petition to de-certify SEIU, a non-RN union, for not delivering for the nurses. SEIU lost the vote with only 47%, but there will be a runoff, since CNA/NNOC got 49%, not the 50% needed for outright victory. I think the quotes in reaction were telling.
SEIU Nevada Executive Director Jane McAlevey said of her own members: "Smart people do stupid (expletive)."
CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro said: "We won’t rest until every RN in the country has the same standards as CNA/NNOC has won for patients and nurses in California."
- Bill Moyers’ Journal will feature CNA/NNOC’s fight for single-payer healthcare tonight. Check local listings.
- A poll by the venerable Field Institute found CNA/NNOC to be the most respected group active in healthcare reform in California. The public turns to nurses on key issues of healthcare reform, which is a major reason we were able to sink Arnold Schwarzenegger’s "individual mandate" plan last year, much to the chagrin of the insurance companies who wrote it.
- In a huge victory for public employees, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee won a major legal decision on behalf of the 10,000 University of California registered nurses it represents to strike, and to bargain over improved staffing and other patient care issues. This is significant because it allows us to bargain over safe staffing ratios—and gives us the tool of a strike if need be.
Brought to you by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee—America’s RN Union.