Re: California RN union, two others join forces to form new 150K-member association Originally Posted by Teresag_CNS 
I don't see why this is viewed by some as a move toward uniting nurses. The CNA and MNA are organizations that split from the American Nurses Association several years back. The UAN was rejected last year by many state affiliates of ANA over concerns about their leadership and guiding principles, acording to my state nurses' association (Oregon).
ANA provides professional services such as continuing education, certification and research funding in addition to collective bargaining. While there are parts of the new organization's goals that make a lot of sense, e.g., safe staffing, healthy work environments, these are values shared by ANA and most specialty nursing organizations. The CNA were actually rather hostile to the ANA and its state affiliates when I heard CNA representatives speak at a conference. I was not impressed.
I'll remain an ANA member because I value the services of an organized professional organization with a track record, not a labor union that is trying to divide the profession.
I think you may have answered your own question here- This union is reuniting entities that were once united under ANA as you have pointed out.
Maine and Pennsylvania had left ANA after California, subsequently joined the NNOC, and would also be included in this new national.
Shortly after the the end of the affiliation between ANA and the UAN, the UAN states of Minnesota, Michigan, Hawaii and the District of Columbia left ANA. They would be reunited under this new agreement as well along with the other UAN states that remain in the ANA.
IMO-The profession is divided, not by unions, but by nurses themselves, and staffing issues are a major part of that division.
Everytime a staff nurse goes to another nurse who is their supervisor saying, "I can't provide proper nursing care to the patients that I am assigned to and I feel this assignment is unsafe for my patients," and the supervising nurse responds in a way that questions the nurse's judgement (when that nurse's judgement is trusted every day by the same supervisor who puts patients in that nurse's care) or in the worst scenario, ignores the nurse's judgement completely we are divided further.
Did you know that ANA is suing states that recently left ANA- that your dues is financing this?
Did you know that your state nurses' association, Oregon, has created and affiliated with a different new national union along with the eight states that left the UAN in December 2007? That they already have a constitution and have appointed the executive officers? (They have apparently been working on this for the last year and a half)
http://allnurses.com/collective-barg...on-359567.html http://nysna.org/publications/newyor...feb/voices.htm
Do you see these actions as divisive as well?
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