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SuperUnion of Nurses
On Monday, December 7, delegates from the nation's most prominent direct-care RN organizations will gather in Phoenix for the founding convention of the new 150,000 member National Nurses United, the largest RN union and professional association in U.S. history. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will deliver the keynote address. The convention charts a course for the building of a powerful RN national movement to expand patient protections, improve RN standards, and increase RN representation.
After months of planning, the National Nurses United brings together the leading voices of direct-care RNs from coast to coast now represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, United American Nurses, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association. It will unify nurses from Hawaii to Maine who are pledged to work together on an ambitious campaign that includes:
• Expanding RN union representation for tens of thousands of non-union nurses.
• Passing national legislation, including the National Nursing Shortage Reform and Patient Advocacy Act sponsored by Senator Boxer, establishing minimum RN-to-patient staffing ratios, protecting the role of RN as patient advocate, and creating a federal program to promote nursing education and retention.
• Promoting access to health care for all Americans.
• Coordinating national efforts to defend and improve RN standards and patient care conditions for nurses and patients in hospitals across the country.
• Setting standards for treating and containing the spread of pandemics such as H1N1 "swine flu".
• Building alliances with sister nurse organizations around the world.
At the Phoenix convention, delegates will elect a three-member NNU Council of Presidents, and discuss their vision for the future of nursing and patient care. On Tuesday, Dec. 8, a rally at the offices of the Arizona Hospital Association will push for legislation to support RN Rights and Representation.
How will the formation of this new nurses “SuperUnion” benefit all Americans? What role do nurses play in promoting health care reform? Why is it in the self-interest of each of us to support appropriate RN staffing ratios? How can RNs help plan for the treatment and containment of pandemics such as “swine flu”?
