Bill to Restore Rights for Veterans Affairs RNs Advances
The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee today approved legislation that would restore some essential rights for registered nurses who work at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities. The committee passed the bill on a 10-6 vote. S 3486, introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown on behalf of the 155,000-member National Nurses United, would expand collective bargaining rights for VA nurses on compensation issues, as other VA clinicians and nurses who work for other federal agencies including the Defense Department, have now.
National Nurses United (NNU), the nation’s largest union and professional association of RNs, represents 7,000 VA nurses at 22 VA facilities in a dozen states. NNU leaders welcomed committee passage of the bill. “This is a key first step to securing equality under the law with other nurses and other healthcare workers,” said NNU Co-President Jean Ross, RN. Read more
In May 2010, InterfaithWorker Justice (IWJ) received a request for assistance from workers and union representatives at three Catholic hospitals in Michigan that are owned by Ascension Health. IWJ responded by requesting a meeting with Ascension management in St. Louis and by initiating a fact finding delegation of religious leaders that met with employees of the three medical centers: St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospitals in Warren and Madison Heights, Genesys Regional Medical Center in Grand Blanc, and Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo. Read the IWJ Report (PDF)
Report asserts that Ascension Health hospitals engaged in anti-union activity
FierceHealthcare 07/19/10
Nurses Welcome Religious Leaders' Spotlight on Ascension Health Abuses
MNA Press Release 07/16/10
Report critical of St. John Providence Health System labor practices
Crain's Detroit Business 07/16/2010
Nurses Decry Multitude of Sins at Union-Busting Catholic Hospitals
Labor Notes 07/16/2010
National Nurses United Salutes the Minnesota Nurses
Association for Historic Patient Care Strike of 2010
(L to R) NNU Executive Director, RoseAnn DeMoro marches with NNU Co-President, Jean Ross and other Minnesota RNs on the picket line for safe RN staffing ratios at a one day strike in Minneapolis Thursday, June 10th.
“We will win,” declares Jean Ross, RN and NNU Co-President
The 155,000 Registered Nurses of National Nurses United (NNU) today salute and honor their brave colleagues of the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) for their historic decision to stage a major strike in defense of the patient care and safety standards at their hospitals. Today, more than 12,000 RNs in Minnesota walked off their jobs in what is the largest nurses’ strike in U.S. history. At the same time RNs throughout California at University of California medical centers and other hospitals rallied and picketed for the same issues to ensure safe-staffing at all times. Both groups are members of National Nurses United, the nation’s professional association and union for nurses. More >
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HCA RNs at Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso, Texas celebrate
victorious vote count to join the National Nurses United.
Lone Star Rebellion- Nearly 2,000 Texas RNs
Vote to Join Nation’s Largest Nurses’ Union
Capping a historic sweep that could alter the nation’s labor and political landscape, registered nurses at Valley Regional Medical Center Thursday night voted to join the nation’s largest RN union. The vote culminates a remarkable two week streak in which more than 1,900 registered nurses in five Texas hospitals voted in secret ballot votes supervised by the National Labor Relations Board, to be represented by the National Nurses Organizing Committee-Texas, an affiliate of the 155,000-member National Nurses United.
RNs at Corpus Christi Medical Center in Corpus Christi, Del Sol Medical Center and Las Palmas Medical Center in El Paso, Rio Grande Regional Hospital in McAllen, also voted in recent days to join NNOC-Texas/NNU. All five hospitals are operated by the nation’s largest hospital system, HCA. Read more >
Univ. of Chicago RNs Vote for Direct Representation
in National Nurses United, Seek Workplace
Changes to Protect Patient Safety
Registered nurses at the University of Chicago Medical Center, First Lady Michelle Obama’s former employer, voted by 64 percent Thursday night for a direct membership in the nation’s largest RN union and professional organization, National Nurses United. The 1,300 UCMC RNs say they will use the clout of their new national union to press for critical patient safety changes at the medical center, including improved patient staffing and an end to scheduling practices that undermine patient care conditions. Read More >
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1,000 Nurses Call on Congress to Act Now on Patient Safety
Gathering Highlights Growth of National Nurses Movement
More than 1,000 registered nurses from across the country rallied in Washington DC Wednesday, raising an unprecedented, unified voice for patient safety reforms and new, national standards for patient care conditions and standards for nurses.
Health Care Employees RNs Adopt National Bargaining Standards, Say They Won't Sign Concessionary Contracts - Bureau of National Affairs 05/12/10
Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis Addresses National Nurses United Staff Nurse Assembly in Washington, D.C. - U.S. Department of Labor 05/11/10
Why is this the time for a "RN SuperUnion"?
Nurses from coast to coast have yearned for a powerful, national movement of direct-care RNs to strengthen our voice at the bedside and in the corridors of Congress and our state capitols, to transform our healthcare system, and to protect our patients, our colleagues, and our profession. Until now, direct-care RNs have been fragmented in separate unions or poorly represented by non-RN unions that fail to prioritize the unique needs of RNs and patients.
RN Resource Center:
FREE Information from the: Institute for Health & Socio-Economic Policy
