Social Justice and Equity
Vision
Every day, nurses see how social injustice devastates the health and wellbeing of their patients and entire communities. From addressing oppression in the workplace to undoing structural inequality in our broader society, we are committed to building a healthy and just world for all people. To this end, we strive to identify and deepen our understanding of the ways that injustice operates in our workplaces and communities, and we strive to leverage our power to achieve social justice. We believe that our intersecting fights for racial, gender, economic, healthcare, environmental and global justice are the building blocks for a more equitable, sustainable and beautiful world. And, we believe that union nurses have an essential role to play in these collective struggles.
Mission
National Nurses United’s Social Justice and Equity division works to build and deploy nurses’ collective power toward the transformation of systems, institutions, policies, and practices that perpetuate social, health, and workplace inequity and injustice.
Our union, like our communities, is a very diverse place and we do not all experience injustice in the same way. Yet, as union nurses, we all have a duty to build a just and inclusive democratic society in which all people can be healthy and free. This requires that we address inequity in our workplaces, by demanding safe and respectful environments free from discrimination, harassment and other policies and forms of behavior that compromise well-being and dignity. Workplace justice includes fighting for opportunities, resources and support for nurses who have been historically marginalized, disenfranchised and oppressed. Social justice at work also means organizing, winning contracts, and advancing campaigns that change oppressive institutional policies and practices.
For more information, or to schedule a gender or racial justice workshop for a group of 10 or more nurses, contact: SocialJusticeEquityInfo@NationalNursesUnited.org
Sign up for our union's Social Justice Leadership Program here.
Gender Justice
Registered nurses know that gender justice is fundamental to our ability to effectively advocate for patients, demand safe workplaces, and build healthy unions. Nurses’ fight for gender justice is a fight for equity of opportunity, conditions, safety, collectivity, health, and dignity for all people regardless of gender. When nurses rise up for gender justice as workers, they make hospitals, their communities, and the world more fair, safe, and just. Nurses who mobilize, organize, and bargain for safe and sustainable jobs, workplace respect, fair pay, and equitable protections increase their voice at work and their ability to advocate for patients.
