[-jt]

Originally Posted by geekgolightly

Does anyone know anything about the NNOC or the UAN?
thanks
kathy

I can tell you about the UAN but youll get more detailed info from our website www.UANnurse.org

Karen got it right except that the UAN is not part of the ANA. It was initially created by staff nurse members of the ANA but it is now a separate, independent, self-governing, self-financing, autonomous labor union for direct care RNs only and is run by them. The UAN is affiliated with the AFL-CIO and the ANA and as such, has a strong voice in both organizations. But the ANA has no voice in the UAN. The ANA is not involved in the function or activity of the UAN nor does it have any control over us or our finances.

The UAN is not the ANA.

The UAN is the largest union of nurses and is the one and only national union for direct care nurses (staff nurses). All of the 105,000 (so far) members from coast to coast (including Alaska & Hawaii), the delegates, and the executive board are all working direct care nurses represented for collective bargaining by their state nurses assoc or one nearby if their own state nurses assoc doesnt have a collective bargaining branch. (ie: NJ state nurses assoc does not provide collective bargaining so they have an agreement with NY state nurses assoc to provide union services to their members).

The NNOC is the organizing branch of the CNA created, as I understand it, to "organize" for CNA in other states. But instead, they have been raiding groups of nurses in other states who are already organized in other unions. They are currently disrupting unionized nurses in Chicago. Staff nurses in NYC recently threw them out of their hospital when they showed up to distribute flyers trying to turn the nurses against their union. Nurses in Hawaii threw them out when they tried to take over their union and prevent the Hawaii nurses union from joining UAN. And those nurses had to go so far as to get a court order to keep them out so they could take their vote without outside interference. There are several posts somewhere on this board from Hawaii nurses telling all about what that organization put them through.
The Hawaii Nurses Assoc staff nurses fought the attempted hostile take-over & voted 5:1 to join UAN and they are our newest members.

Instead of going around the country trying to break apart other unionized nurses, that Calif union should be working together with all of the others to combat the common problems we're all facing on the frontlines. Out of the 330,000 RNs in Calif, only approx 60,000 have joined them. It seems to me that it would make more sense for that union to focus on organizing the unorganized nurses in their own state before they take their members dues money across the country & spend it trying to tear apart other nurses.

[-jt]

Geek,
Nurses in Hawaii who had first hand experience with one of the organizations youre asking about tell about it in the following thread:

http://allnurses.com/forums/showthre...t=Aloha+Hawaii

[Nancy2]

Originally Posted by lee1

Has anyone joined this National Nursing Organization yet?? They say that they have over 60,000 members.
They want to provide a National Nursing Union however at some point in the future to help nationalize standards for nurses

The NNOC is the CNA. The Executive director is not a nurse, she is a former Teamster who was hired by CNA and was instrumental in the parting of the ways with the ANA in 1995. She is a very aggressive organizer and CNA has very musch changed from a professional association to a very "blue collar" type union.
You can obtain the bylaws of how they work from the Department of Labor. dol.gov.
You can also obtain their financial disclosure from this site; called an LM-2.
They donated $10,000 dollars to the Labor Party last year and by the way that is all they allotted for nursing scholarships as well. They just spent $150,000 dollars for a one day ad bashing governor Schwartzenager, but they only gave their members $10,000 in a whole year toward education. That tells me a lot about their priorities.
Hope this helps,
Nancy2

[lee1]

Originally Posted by Nancy2

The NNOC is the CNA. The Executive director is not a nurse, she is a former Teamster who was hired by CNA and was instrumental in the parting of the ways with the ANA in 1995. She is a very aggressive organizer and CNA has very musch changed from a professional association to a very "blue collar" type union.
You can obtain the bylaws of how they work from the Department of Labor. dol.gov.
You can also obtain their financial disclosure from this site; called an LM-2.
They donated $10,000 dollars to the Labor Party last year and by the way that is all they allotted for nursing scholarships as well. They just spent $150,000 dollars for a one day ad bashing governor Schwartzenager, but they only gave their members $10,000 in a whole year toward education. That tells me a lot about their priorities.
Hope this helps,
Nancy2

Thanks for your info. Yes I think it is a waste of money and manpower to have 2 large competing Nursing unions as it certainly fragments further our ability to get needed reform, universal standards.
HOWEVER, everyone is watching California as they move toward implementing their pt/nurse ratios which are THE primary source of frustration at the bedside. Big business interests obviously do not care about safe patient care or what is involved in the human, moral, ethical care of patients. They only seem to care about the profits they can generate.
Why is it that the simple formula of better ratios which leads to better mortality rates, less complications, better satisfaction for both patients and nurses is soooo overlooked.

[RN4MERCY]

I am a member of the NNOC. I believe the saying that great minds discuss ideas. Some of our brothers and sisters in nursing are victims of the "Stockholm Syndrome" and they identify too closely with their captors...healthcare trade industry corporate executives. Decades of low pay and disrespect for nurses are the legacy of the ANA which has promoted the agenda of nursing management at the expense of bedside RNs according to CNA President Deborah Burger.

The California Nurses Association, indeed all nurses and their patients are blessed by the visionary leadership of Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro and an all RN Board of Directors who have been successful in leading California Nurses and their state's legislature in adopting the first minimum nurse to patient ratio laws in the country. Through NNOC RNs can learn to build their own RN-run local organizations and stronger unions while participating in a growing national network that can benefit from the experience of CNA. We have elected to spend our dues to help other RNs organize and we are doing our best despite aggressive union busting and corporate smear tactics, such as seeking to discredit the good work of an outstanding organization--right here on this message thread!

Direct care RNs are uniquely qualified to defend professional standards of care and professional practice which are increasingly under attack by an aggressive corporate agenda. RNs across the country have been the first to recognize the consequences of managed care and it's false promise of lower cost and increased access to providers.

What's with the snobbery and derisive and devisive use of the term blue collar workers anyway? They are our families, our neighbors and our patients. If you enjoy your cars and boats and planes and trains and buildings thank the Steelworkers and the Mineworkers. Let's not forget the Oil Atomic and Chemical Workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; the Carpenters, the Bricklayers, the Garment Workers and the Sanitation Workers; Thank God for the Longshoremen and the Teamsters who get it from there to here, i.e. pharmaceuticals and durable medical supplies and equipment, food and building supplies.

We are working locally and nationally to advance our agenda of single payer, single standard healthcare for all citizens.

Read more: www.revolutionmag.com
Subscribe at 1-800-660-0906 and Join RNs in making a difference.
Join us online: www.nnoc.net

[BadBird]

Never heard of them.

[suebird3]

When I was an LPN, "had" to join the Union at my one facility. Worked w/o a contract.....no-one had a raise in 5 years at least. The Union? Teamsters. Just to be curious....What do they know about nursing? I am not an electrician, plumber, etc.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I always thought that, now that I have a degree, I am considered "white collar".

[RN4MERCY]

"Blue collar: of, relating to, or constituting the wage-earning class; White collar: of, relating to, or being the group of salaried workers whose duties do not call for the wearing of work clothes or protective clothing;" (From my daughter's Webster's High School Dictionary...chosen for brevity), but, you decide; does it matter, really? The point being, one of the previous posters tries to imply that being a teamster member or a former member is somehow something to be ashamed of; I see advantages in belonging to an all RN union, but I welcome the opportunity to work with all unions and their members when it comes to organizing around fixing healthcare; we are all in this together and we all need to work together to build a social reform movement. Our government should serve and protect the people. Our job security, retirement security, and health benefits are under attack because of corporate welfare politics. I subscribe to the notion of individual responsibility. Were you active in trying to make your former union better? (I know that there are some unions/locals who don't do a good job of representing their members and shame on them!) A lot of legislators don't know much about nurses; we must educate them. We posess substantial scientific knowledge and technical skills; we save people from the complications of their disease and it's treatment among other things. RNs can't afford for their critical role to to be blurred by the caregiver/angel feathers descriptions. Hospital care is nursing care. Check out the new book by Suzanne Gordon, "Nursing Against The Odds".

[Nancy2]

It was not meant to be "snobby". I chose to go to college and become a professional for many reasons, none of which involved being in a union or associated with teamsters. If I had wanted to be represented by teamsters, all I had to do was go to truck driving school. As for the "steelworkers", the unions made it so difficult for the companies to turn a profit that the whole industry has practically been outsourced overseas. Healthcare cannot be outsourced and that is a pretty big draw for unions who have lost sooooo much $ due to decreasing membership. I am not fooled by their retoric. I have been a professional and a patient advocate for 20 years and would never give power of attorney to a union to speak on my behalf with my employer. If unions get into hospitals and do what they did to the steel industry, the government will have to take over hospitals and that would truly be sad!!!!Not to mention scary!

[pickledpepperRN]

"Labor - noun - Persistant exertion of body or mind; work, and usually done for an employer for wages" the Living Webster encyclopedic dictionary of the English Language

I have labored approximately seventy thousand hours as a licensed nurse providing direct patient care. Believe me my feet let me know I have labored when I stagger to my car in the morning after a busy night shift.
My soul feels satisfied that I was able to provide safe, effective, therapeutic nursing care to my patients.
My mind feels proud of nursing work. Proud of those who went before. Proud of being one of thousands of nurses and others, union and not who gave our ideas - our heart - our days off to the struggle to make safe staffing a reality.
We have safe staffing at my hospital!

Now we have a governor who proposed to eliminate the public oversight of the Board of Registered Nursing.

Who declares a state of emergency with NO evidence!

What is the emergency? Hospitals must staff their emergency departments and keep a record of which nurse was assigned to each patient. Medical surgical units will be required to assign no more than five patients per nurse. How is this an emergency?

What to do? Well. we need to do all we can to counter the misleading rhetoric of the governor. Yes I think blaming the working nurses for the industry created shortage of nurses willing to work in hospitals for the same industry choosong to close emergency departments is just plain untruthful.

We need to work with nurses to strive for a single standard of healthcare for all. Not just California. All people and their families deserve the same quality care as the governor.

I asked a CNA board member for my region about NNOC. She said, "NNOC is so new we don't know what form it will take. It will likely be different in different locales. It will be what the members decide to make it. We don't want a large number yet. We want quality committed RNs willing to contribute their thoughts, ideas, and energy."
"In some states NNOC will probably work for a state ratio law. In others they will have to slowly build support through education. I a couple states NNOC members are already members of a union they feel is serving them well so they will work within their union for the idea of a single standard of care. Some NNOC members think their state is not ready for a union. It may take years. They still need safe staffing so that is the struggle. The members are taking the lead."
I some areas there are so few interested they don't yet know how to proceed."
"And in Chicago I (my BOD member) think the RNs are going to have the first NNOC bargaining unit when they win their election soon."

I personally wish for all nurses colleages such as those I am fortunate to work with. Many of us attended each others wedding, baby showers, kids birthdays, parents funerals, retirement parties, and now grandchildren play together as their parents, once did. These friends include nurses and other members of the hospital labor force. A housekeeper who was hired the same day in the 1970s I was also attends the same church. She has her union, I am blessed to belong to and contribute to my RN union and 102 year old professional association.

http://www.nnoc.net/PDF/1004_NNOC_Brochure_forWeb.pdf
http://www.nnoc.net/patient_protection.html