[forrester]

Originally Posted by NRSKarenRN

Google search only shows NNOC website info posted above; no mention of leadership on site.


Did find these organizations expressing concerns:




CEO Corner -

February, 2005

By: Deborah Hackman, Georgia Nurses Association CEO

Webster’s dictionary describes an “interloper” as one who intrudes or interferes; an encroachment. You might question why anyone who claims to be professional would want to engage in such behavior. So do I. Unfortunately there is a broad scale national effort by the California Nurses Association (also known as NNOC - National Nurses Organizing Committee) to do just that. Georgia is their latest target for encroachment.
http://www.georgianurses.org/CEO%20Corner.htm



Labor Relations Board Issues Complaint Against Cook County Cook/John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, Reports Illinois Nurses Association

http://www.uawdcx.com/resources/labo...2005,+03:53+PM




South Carolina Human Resources Assoc:

California Nurses Association Invites Your Nurses to Join!

Flush with success over recent organizing efforts in California and the passage and mandatory staff-nurse ratios in that state, the California Nurses Association has created a “National Nurses Organizing Committee” (NNOC). In October, the NNOC mailed a letter and brochure that was an ‘invitation to join with the California Nurses Association and RNs throughout the nation to help build a new national movement for direct care RNs” into many Southeastern states.

One goal of the NNOC is to sponsor continuing education sessions on ‘topics of the greatest urgency for direct care RNs including safe staffing, the latest trends on hospital restructuring, and how to protect your practice.” According to the brochure, mail-outs for the sessions will be sent in January to March, 2005.

Another goal is to advance the “cause of direct care RNs across the nation through effective professional representation, a stronger voice in the legislative and regulatory arena, collective patient advocacy, and building RN power through new organizing”.

The CNA is positioning itself as an “alternative to the American Nurses Association/Union of American Nurses and its affiliated state nurse associations.” CNA states that the ANA has “promoted the interests of nursing management and the hospital industry at the expense of direct care nurses and patient care for far too long. Decades of low pay and disrespect for nurses is a legacy of the ANA’s failure to effectively advocate for direct care RNs”. http://www.scha.org/documents/Nov-Dec_Newsletter_1.doc




From Labor Lawyers:
California Nurses Association Using NNOC To Move Organizing Attempts Eastward

T

rumpeting an agenda that purports to advance “the cause of direct care RNs across the nation,” the California Nurses Association (CNA) is charging eastward with ambitious new organizing tactics that could affect healthcare providers around the nation. CNA is seizing upon personnel shortages and the thorny issue of nurse-to-patient staffing ratios to spearhead its efforts. Using its newly formed National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC), the union has scheduled a series of so-called continuing education sessions, which are likely to amount to little more than thinly veiled organizing meetings. This is not the first time that the CNA has used ostensible “education sessions” to drum up support. This time, however, the union has apparently refined its approach and planned it more carefully.

The upcoming “educational” programs are entitled, “Collective Patient Advocacy: Strategies to Promote a Single Standard for Safe Patient Care.”

http://www.laborlawyers.com/CM/Important%20New%20Legal%20Developments/Healthcare%20Labor%20Alert%20%20CNA%20Jan.%202005. pdf

CNA: Creating Disunity Rather Than Building "One Voice

HPAE's 11,000 members have made significant gains in recent years, we continue to fight for improved staffing, quality patient care, and good wages and benefits. Unfortunately, our efforts are hampered by the lack of coordination and unity among health care unions in New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania.

In New Jersey, HPAE is by far the largest union for health care professionals. However, six other unions represent nurses and ten unions represent hospital workers as a whole. There is virtually no coordination among those unions. Because health care unions are not working together with "One Voice," we are all failing to build the maximum strength to establish high standards of wages, benefits, and conditions.

Given the need for coordination and unity, it is all the more unfortunate that another union - based in California - has expanded its operations to New Jersey. The California Nurses Association (CNA) is attempting to recruit Registered Nurses in New Jersey to a new group they created, the National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC)....

The CNA/NNOC's efforts are counterproductive because they will cause more destructive competition among health care unions...
They appear to be targeting nurses who are already organized in other unions. The union lingo for this is "raiding". Raiding another union to get their members is prohibited in the AFL-CIO, the national labor organization with whom HPAE is affiliated. However, the California Nurses Association is not part of the AFL-CIO, so their actions, as detrimental as they might be, are outside of the scope of decent union principles and conduct.
http://www.hpae.org/clarion_0105.htm

And it's about time, too. Let's face it, most state nursing groups are ineffective politically and represent only a small percentage of RN's.
In Florida, the association represents less than 5% of the RN's.

The ANA only represents 6% of RN's.

These groups have been our "political" leaders for too long, and the results have been dismal in most states.

Nursing "executives" have their organization, the AONE, but it is a chapter of the AHA...Hmmmmm, wonder whose interests they serve.

Fighting union battles is costly, on many levels, and does nothing to address global issues such as legally mandated staffing ratios.
Organizing a union is difficult work, rewarding as it may be. I certainly support any effort made by nurses to control their practice domain, but why fight 3,000 battles when we can fight 1 war (so to speak).

This group, the NNOC, has shown it can succeed, and no other group in nursing has shown that to date.
It costs $30 dollars a year to join the NNOC. In Florida, it costs $279 to belong to the FNA...for what????

As you read information on the NNOC, be careful who is giving it. Members of state nursing organizations resent it because it is working. Nurse administrators resent it because it is assuming the leadership position THEY should be filling. Nurse educators, by and large, know little about it and tend to be rather conservative anyway.

Talk to nurses around you. Do we need to be more aggressive on this staffing issue?
Is your state association doing anything?
I know mine isn't.
No more double talk! No more inuendos! No more euphemisms!
Set ratios with legal consequences for continuing to put our patients, and us, at risk.

If enough of us join (what's $30), we can begin to send a very clear message that nurses are fed up

[RN1989]

Originally Posted by forrester

Let's face it, most state nursing groups are ineffective politically and represent only a small percentage of RN's.[/left]

I believe that the ANA and SNAs are very politically effective. They simply have a completely different agenda, sometimes hidden, that does not bode well for nurses or patients. Some SNA's such as CA left association with the ANA for that very reason. The PACs that the ANA and their affiliates have are very effective in covering up wrong doing, aligning themselves with wealthy corporations/entities, and squelching the general nursing populations attempts to organize, and effect positive change that goes against the ANA's desires.

The ANA continues to be at the heart of divisive tactics meant to cause clinically active RNs to bicker and fight amongst themselves while diverting the nurses attention from the true issues. I personally have seen more than enough from the TXNA and their affiliations with hospital and MD groups/organizations to know that they care more about making themselves look good and not bucking a system that is broken.

I can only hope that this recent accomplishment might spur other nurses to start the ball rolling where they are at instead of living in fear of unemployment if they choose to do the right thing.

[RN Power Ohio]

Agreed- the PAC of the ANA has plenty of revenue generated by the advertising seal of Magnet!!!

[forrester]

Originally Posted by RN1989

I believe that the ANA and SNAs are very politically effective. They simply have a completely different agenda, sometimes hidden, that does not bode well for nurses or patients. Some SNA's such as CA left association with the ANA for that very reason. The PACs that the ANA and their affiliates have are very effective in covering up wrong doing, aligning themselves with wealthy corporations/entities, and squelching the general nursing populations attempts to organize, and effect positive change that goes against the ANA's desires.

The ANA continues to be at the heart of divisive tactics meant to cause clinically active RNs to bicker and fight amongst themselves while diverting the nurses attention from the true issues. I personally have seen more than enough from the TXNA and their affiliations with hospital and MD groups/organizations to know that they care more about making themselves look good and not bucking a system that is broken.

I can only hope that this recent accomplishment might spur other nurses to start the ball rolling where they are at instead of living in fear of unemployment if they choose to do the right thing.

I would have to respectfully disagree. Political "power" (effectiveness) requies one of two variables to succeed.
1) Money to contribute to targeted political campaigns to advance your key initiatives .
2) "Control" or strong influence in mobilizing "for" and "against" public voting numbers.
The ANA and its affiliates control neither.

Years ago I went to Wash. DC for an internship, and stayed with a family friend who was very savvy politically.
He looked up how much was contributed by various groups on a few subjects, and concluded that the ANA was in way over their league.

Everyone likes nurses, but real respect (politically) is another thing

[Ludlow]

One of the ways nurses have found political power is through joining together in a union. And as we have discussed, the kind of union that represents us DOES make a big difference.

Check out this podcast about why CNA/NNOC is the best union of Registered Nurses:

http://web.mac.com/suescannon/Site/Blog/Blog.html

[forrester]

Originally Posted by Ludlow

One of the ways nurses have found political power is through joining together in a union. And as we have discussed, the kind of union that represents us DOES make a big difference.

Check out this podcast about why CNA/NNOC is the best union of Registered Nurses:

http://web.mac.com/suescannon/Site/Blog/Blog.html

I would say that it's one of the ONLY ways nurses have found any kind of power. That's not the argument.
The question is: Do we want to slug it out in each facility across the country, or can a national movement better serve us?

From the sounds of things so far, the CNA/NNOC could fit this bill. It depends on how the group resonates with nurses, and they are often skittish.

Too sceptical from too many disillusions.

[NRSKarenRN]

The Political Clout of California's Nurses : NPR

[RN Power Ohio]

What a great story. I think it highlights some very important goals. Clean money elections & vocal patient advocacy. It works. If only more organizations would adopt this strategy...Maybe then 75% of our food supply would not be GMO, our drugs would be proven safe for children before they are prescribed (only 20% of pediatric drugs are approved safe for use in children, our media would give disseminate accurate and fair information, decreasing the consumer mentality that forces us to work to buy instead of work to live and so much more.

People power- street heat as we NNOC/CNA'ers call it works! It gets attention thereby increasing awareness thus producing change!
My theory is if every American took the time to learn about one issue that is important to them and then spread information we could change all that needs to be changed!

[micurn55]

I definitely agree that nurses need a powerful national union. I'm not sure that CNA/NNOC fits the bill however. Personally, I would prefer a union that includes all nurses (LPNs too) and other nursing staff. CNA only includes RNs. Also I find their recent "vote no" campaign at the CHP hospitals in Ohio very troubling. For an organization that believes that the way for RNs to have a real voice in patient care is for them to have a union to prevent RNs from joining a union after years of work seems wrong. Check out the Ohio SEIU website to read more about this story: www.seiu1199.org.

[forrester]

Originally Posted by micurn55

I definitely agree that nurses need a powerful national union. I'm not sure that CNA/NNOC fits the bill however. Personally, I would prefer a union that includes all nurses (LPNs too) and other nursing staff. CNA only includes RNs. Also I find their recent "vote no" campaign at the CHP hospitals in Ohio very troubling. For an organization that believes that the way for RNs to have a real voice in patient care is for them to have a union to prevent RNs from joining a union after years of work seems wrong. Check out the Ohio SEIU website to read more about this story: www.seiu1199.org.

You raise a good point about the LPN's. I like and have worked with many excellent LPN's. We need to think on how to include them.

As for the SEIU, I have not been impressed with them. However, I have no direct experience and have had to rely on colleagues stories.