ANA discriminates against LPN/LVN

-jt · May 14, 2001

"jt-I am a member of the ANA by virtue of my SNA as my collective bargaining agent. I am also a member of my local chapter. AND I am an ADN. I attempted to become active in my local chapter. It is made up of mostly administrative and exec RNs-there were NO bedside nurses at the meetings I went to. When I attempted to be recognized to speak at one meeting, I was basically ignored until it was suddenly "no time for more questions". I have heard people I know descibe the same scenario at the state level. I admit I do not know anyone at the national level personally."

RNPD, there is no excuse for the way you were treated & I would urge you to inform the offices about what you have experienced. You & I are both ADNs & both represented by the same SNA. When I said the majority of the ANAs members are RNs just like us, I meant in total. The majority of the total membership of the ANA are staff nurses who work at the bedside & in this country, the majority of those RNs hold ADNs, then Diplomas, then come the BSNs. But the same is true of our state association. Something like 99% of our 34,000 members are staff nurses at the bedsides & represented for collective bargaining. WE are the majority in our association & the association does recognize & cater to that. Thats why we have such a strong collective bargaining program overall.

That said, The districts set their own agenda for what is going on in their areas. Its a shame that direct-care RNs do not get involved in their local districts but if they dont, how can they complain that they are left out of the decisions in their districts? As you know, the involved members set the agenda & make the decisions in our organization. If bedside nurses are not involved in your local district, how will their issues ever get addressed there? Nurse apathy is a big problem throughout our profession - and thats part of the reason we're all in the situation we are in today. One of the things we can do in our organization is vote in direct-care nurses for the leadership positions when we get our voting ballots & the background bios on everyone who is running. We should be reading those bios & voting for the direct-care nurses & sending in the ballots on time. We also have the nurse-to-nurse ambassadorship program where we mentor other direct care nurses to become more involved. Our organization has recognized the problem of direct-care nurses not getting involved & it has taken several steps to increase their involvement. One way to do that is by "proportional representation" in which a certain number of leadership positions based on our percentage of direct-care members is reserved for only direct-care RNs to hold & direct-care RNs are recruited to run for the positions. At last falls convention, this change in our bylaws was lost by just 19 votes. It comes up again for vote at this years convention in NYC November 1-4. I encourage you to attend, bring your colleagues & vote YES for proportional representation. Our organziation is working hard to get more direct-care nurses more involved (see the EG&W webpage), but while you can lead a horse to water - you cant make her drink. You are to be commended for your dedication & again Id suggest you call the offices about this situation. But other than tying up your peers & dragging them to your chapter meetings, I dont know how else to get them there if they arent interested despite all the education & attempts to involve them more & as long as they arent there, only those execs who are there will be calling the shots in your area.

At some point apathetic ADN staff nurses will have to share some of the responsibility for this mess themselves.

-jt · May 14, 2001

"jt-I am a member of the ANA by virtue of my SNA as my collective bargaining agent. I am also a member of my local chapter. AND I am an ADN. I attempted to become active in my local chapter. It is made up of mostly administrative and exec RNs-there were NO bedside nurses at the meetings I went to. When I attempted to be recognized to speak at one meeting, I was basically ignored until it was suddenly "no time for more questions". I have heard people I know descibe the same scenario at the state level. I admit I do not know anyone at the national level personally."

RNPD, there is no excuse for the way you were treated & I would urge you to inform the offices about what you have experienced. You & I are both ADNs & both represented by the same SNA. When I said the majority of the ANAs members are RNs just like us, I meant in total. The majority of the total membership of the ANA are staff nurses who work at the bedside & in this country, the majority of those RNs hold ADNs, then Diplomas, then come the BSNs. But the same is true of our state association. Something like 99% of our 34,000 members are staff nurses at the bedsides & represented for collective bargaining. WE are the majority in our association & the association does recognize & cater to that. Thats why we have such a strong collective bargaining program overall.

That said, The districts set their own agenda for what is going on in their areas. Its a shame that direct-care RNs do not get involved in their local districts but if they dont, how can they complain that they are left out of the decisions in their districts? As you know, the involved members set the agenda & make the decisions in our organization. If bedside nurses are not involved in your local district, how will their issues ever get addressed there? Nurse apathy is a big problem throughout our profession - and thats part of the reason we're all in the situation we are in today. One of the things we can do in our organization is vote in direct-care nurses for the leadership positions when we get our voting ballots & the background bios on everyone who is running. We should be reading those bios & voting for the direct-care nurses & sending in the ballots on time. We also have the nurse-to-nurse ambassadorship program where we mentor other direct care nurses to become more involved. Our organization has recognized the problem of direct-care nurses not getting involved & it has taken several steps to increase their involvement. One way to do that is by "proportional representation" in which a certain number of leadership positions based on our percentage of direct-care members is reserved for only direct-care RNs to hold & direct-care RNs are recruited to run for the positions. At last falls convention, this change in our bylaws was lost by just 19 votes. It comes up again for vote at this years convention in NYC November 1-4. I encourage you to attend, bring your colleagues & vote YES for proportional representation. Our organziation is working hard to get more direct-care nurses more involved (see the EG&W webpage), but while you can lead a horse to water - you cant make her drink. You are to be commended for your dedication & again Id suggest you call the offices about this situation. But other than tying up your peers & dragging them to your chapter meetings, I dont know how else to get them there if they arent interested despite all the education & attempts to involve them more & as long as they arent there, only those execs who are there will be calling the shots in your area.

At some point apathetic ADN staff nurses will have to share some of the responsibility for this mess themselves.

RNPD · May 14, 2001

jt-you are right. And i have tried to get the nurses I work with to go to the local meetings. Some say they didn't opt to join the local chapter because it increases their dues. Others went once, had the same experience as me, and refused to go again. I did think about complainong to my rep but I feel like it will sound like a little kid who was left out by the others-you know "they won't let me play". It's not as if I can prove it was because i am a staff nurse. You can't force people to talk to you as a peer-especially when the people are the snooty supervisors you work with everyday!

I am hoping to attend the November convention. We need to have proprtional representaion. BTW, what is the EG&W webpage?

Thanks for the support.

RNPD · May 14, 2001

jt-you are right. And i have tried to get the nurses I work with to go to the local meetings. Some say they didn't opt to join the local chapter because it increases their dues. Others went once, had the same experience as me, and refused to go again. I did think about complainong to my rep but I feel like it will sound like a little kid who was left out by the others-you know "they won't let me play". It's not as if I can prove it was because i am a staff nurse. You can't force people to talk to you as a peer-especially when the people are the snooty supervisors you work with everyday!

I am hoping to attend the November convention. We need to have proprtional representaion. BTW, what is the EG&W webpage?

Thanks for the support.

-jt · May 14, 2001

E&GW = Economic & General Welfare

thats the collective bargaining branch of our association. http://www.nysna.org/PROGRAMS/EGW/HOME.HTM

ps.

yes w, you are so right. you ARE becoming more & more ridiculous. enjoy yourself.

-jt · May 14, 2001

E&GW = Economic & General Welfare

thats the collective bargaining branch of our association. http://www.nysna.org/PROGRAMS/EGW/HOME.HTM

ps.

yes w, you are so right. you ARE becoming more & more ridiculous. enjoy yourself.

-jt · May 15, 2001

The difference between us is that while you are demanding everyone cease & desist what they are doing & instead do everything YOUR way, and your motto seems to be "my way or the highway", I am saying you are entitled to your opinion, you have the right to do your own thing, you have the right to & should seek out whatever works best for you & be as active as you can be to accomplish what is needed.

However, do not trample on the rights of others to do the same in their own way and with whichever group they choose.

You have the right to join any organization you want - or to join no organziation at all. So do the rest of us. So get off our back about the choice we made in choosing our national professional association.

3 states did not leave the ANA. Only 1 small association & only the labor piece of 2 others have done so in the last 6 yrs. The rest of those 2 associations REMAIN with the ANA along with 52 others. If the members choose to leave that is their choice. If they choose to stay, that is also their choice. It seems those who choose to leave are continually trying too hard to rationalize their choice to others. Forget it. Everyone has the right to their own choice - make it, & move forward. There is no time to waste with animosity.

If you find that one organization is not to your liking, dont join it. Move on & put your energy to good use with another - focus on fixing the immediate problems, not on complaining about what you dont like about an organziation you dont even belong to.

You dont like it? Fine. Dont join.

No one is dictating to you what choice you must make or what action you must take. No one is forcing you to do things their way. So afford everyone else the same courtesy.

Our existence does not interfere with your activity & does not stand in the way of any effort you want to make with whatever group you choose to be involved with. We are all fighting the same fight. Consider it a war with strategic attacks from all sides instead of all from one direction. You do it your way, we'll do it our way, most of us will work it together & it will get done. But nothing will get done if we spend all day pointing the guns at each other. Make your choice, get involved with whomever you want to be involved with & get to work.

Sitting around griping about who chooses which organiztion is not getting anybody anywhere. Get up & DO something about the problems.

WE are. And We are not going away.

Staffing Crisis Lobby Day, June 26, 2001

Plan to join nurses across the country as they take their message to Capitol Hill for the

Staffing Crisis Lobby Day on June 26, 2001, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. in Washington, DC.

This will be an opportunity to unite with nurses, their families, colleagues, and friends to deliver a critical message that patients and nurses are at risk in today’s hospitals......... http://www.uannurse.org/

"the union for nurses by nurses"

-jt · May 15, 2001

The difference between us is that while you are demanding everyone cease & desist what they are doing & instead do everything YOUR way, and your motto seems to be "my way or the highway", I am saying you are entitled to your opinion, you have the right to do your own thing, you have the right to & should seek out whatever works best for you & be as active as you can be to accomplish what is needed.

However, do not trample on the rights of others to do the same in their own way and with whichever group they choose.

You have the right to join any organization you want - or to join no organziation at all. So do the rest of us. So get off our back about the choice we made in choosing our national professional association.

3 states did not leave the ANA. Only 1 small association & only the labor piece of 2 others have done so in the last 6 yrs. The rest of those 2 associations REMAIN with the ANA along with 52 others. If the members choose to leave that is their choice. If they choose to stay, that is also their choice. It seems those who choose to leave are continually trying too hard to rationalize their choice to others. Forget it. Everyone has the right to their own choice - make it, & move forward. There is no time to waste with animosity.

If you find that one organization is not to your liking, dont join it. Move on & put your energy to good use with another - focus on fixing the immediate problems, not on complaining about what you dont like about an organziation you dont even belong to.

You dont like it? Fine. Dont join.

No one is dictating to you what choice you must make or what action you must take. No one is forcing you to do things their way. So afford everyone else the same courtesy.

Our existence does not interfere with your activity & does not stand in the way of any effort you want to make with whatever group you choose to be involved with. We are all fighting the same fight. Consider it a war with strategic attacks from all sides instead of all from one direction. You do it your way, we'll do it our way, most of us will work it together & it will get done. But nothing will get done if we spend all day pointing the guns at each other. Make your choice, get involved with whomever you want to be involved with & get to work.

Sitting around griping about who chooses which organiztion is not getting anybody anywhere. Get up & DO something about the problems.

WE are. And We are not going away.

Staffing Crisis Lobby Day, June 26, 2001

Plan to join nurses across the country as they take their message to Capitol Hill for the

Staffing Crisis Lobby Day on June 26, 2001, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. in Washington, DC.

This will be an opportunity to unite with nurses, their families, colleagues, and friends to deliver a critical message that patients and nurses are at risk in today’s hospitals......... http://www.uannurse.org/

"the union for nurses by nurses"

Home Health Columnist / Guide · May 15, 2001

Sorry Wildtime,

Any organization created by CNA, MNA and even PASNAP will not represent everyone. Some of these local unions have LPN's as members, others do not. CNA's are not offered membership. They specifically state BEDSIDE nurses, which will eliminate anyone at Drs offices, clinics, managment, academia,and administration. PASNAP does offer associate membership, nonvoting for $100.00 year. So for a those of you looking for an all encompasssing group, this group won't be it either. Looks like no group membership is less than $50.00. Membership in NFLPN runs $55 to $86/year.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · May 15, 2001

Sorry Wildtime,

Any organization created by CNA, MNA and even PASNAP will not represent everyone. Some of these local unions have LPN's as members, others do not. CNA's are not offered membership. They specifically state BEDSIDE nurses, which will eliminate anyone at Drs offices, clinics, managment, academia,and administration. PASNAP does offer associate membership, nonvoting for $100.00 year. So for a those of you looking for an all encompasssing group, this group won't be it either. Looks like no group membership is less than $50.00. Membership in NFLPN runs $55 to $86/year.

-jt · May 16, 2001

That is your stance remember. That is what I have heard you preach in one form or another every since I have came to this bulletin board.

I think you have me confused with someone else. I always have said you are free to make your own choice but let others make theirs. Either you attribute the posts of others to me, are reading into my posts things that are not there, or are simply hallucinating again. Doesnt matter to me. You are entitled to your opinion (as I have also said before).

FYI, if you want an all-inclusive organziation, try SEIU/1199. 1199 was started by a pharmacist as a union for pharmacists & expanded to include all health-care workers - including RNs, CNAs & LPNs, as well as lab techs,housekeepers,etc. It is now part of SEIU, the largest healthcare worker union in the country. From what you say it sounds like CNA wants to compete with THEM - but SEIU has over a million members so they'll have a long way to go. Some of us choose to be part of an organization that is concerned with & devotes all of its efforts & resources to only RN issues - issues of concern to ALL RNs - not just bedside RNs. So I'll say it again since you have not noticed in any of my posts - you are free to do whatever you want so just do it. But dont try to prevent others from making their own choices too. And dont blame me for your failure to get your career on the path it should have been on. Not me nor the ANA is standing in your way.

-jt · May 16, 2001

That is your stance remember. That is what I have heard you preach in one form or another every since I have came to this bulletin board.

I think you have me confused with someone else. I always have said you are free to make your own choice but let others make theirs. Either you attribute the posts of others to me, are reading into my posts things that are not there, or are simply hallucinating again. Doesnt matter to me. You are entitled to your opinion (as I have also said before).

FYI, if you want an all-inclusive organziation, try SEIU/1199. 1199 was started by a pharmacist as a union for pharmacists & expanded to include all health-care workers - including RNs, CNAs & LPNs, as well as lab techs,housekeepers,etc. It is now part of SEIU, the largest healthcare worker union in the country. From what you say it sounds like CNA wants to compete with THEM - but SEIU has over a million members so they'll have a long way to go. Some of us choose to be part of an organization that is concerned with & devotes all of its efforts & resources to only RN issues - issues of concern to ALL RNs - not just bedside RNs. So I'll say it again since you have not noticed in any of my posts - you are free to do whatever you want so just do it. But dont try to prevent others from making their own choices too. And dont blame me for your failure to get your career on the path it should have been on. Not me nor the ANA is standing in your way.