Some 550 non-union registered nurses who work in 21 Kaiser Permanente hospitals across Northern and Central California have become members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, CNA announced today.

The RNs, who work as Patient Care Coordinators, voted in a secret ballot, mail election to affiliate with CNA, in an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in January.

Late last week, the NLRB officially certified the election victory overruling objections by Kaiser. The final mail ballot tally was 240 to 218 in favor of CNA. The NLRB regional director ruled that Kaiser had failed to “raise any material and substantial issues of fact or law” to necessitate further action.

“I’m very excited to join CNA and get the strong voice that we deserve,” said Margaret Lao, a PCC RN at Kaiser San Leandro. “We will now have a say in the decision-making processes that affect our patients, our colleagues, and our families.”

“We are excited for the PCCs to finally have a collective voice through CNA, and to welcome the PCCs into our CNA family,” said CNA Co-President Zenei Cortez, a Kaiser RN and chair of the statewide Kaiser nurse bargaining council.

“With the election now over, the PCCs can look forward to being a part of a strong union with a contract that will protect their health and retirement benefits, a fair wage scale and the ability to work together to improve working and patient care conditions,” Cortez said.

Patient Care Coordinators work as discharge planners and case managers, who coordinate care planning after patients are discharged from the hospital to home or outpatient settings as well as patient care resource management and other review duties.

With the vote by Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center RNs this week to approve their first CNA contract, CNA now represents 19,000 RNs across California.