Mass. Nurses Association joins two others to create a massive, nationwide union

By Jon Chesto
The Patriot Ledger
February 19, 2009

Massachusetts Nurses Association teaming up with 2 other groups to create huge union

The Massachusetts Nurses Association is teaming up with two larger nurses organizations to create a union with a national scope and nearly 150,000 registered nurses as members.

The new union will be called the United American Nurses-National Nurses Organizing Committee. Representatives from the Massachusetts Nurses Association in Canton said the structure of the new parent organization has yet to be determined. Members of all three participating unions still need to vote on the proposed merger.

Like the Massachusetts nurses group, the other two participating organizations – the California Nurses Association and United American Nurses – have all broken away from the American Nurses Association, according to Julie Pinkham, the MNA’s executive director.

“We need to have a national voice,” said Beth Piknick, the president of the MNA and a nurse at Cape Cod Hospital. “We’ve been talking about this for a long time, since we left the American Nurses Association (in 2001).”

One reason behind the Massachusetts group’s departure from the ANA was the difference in opinion between the two groups regarding mandatory nurse-patient staffing ratios in hospitals. The Massachusetts Nurses Association has been a vocal advocate of a ratio requirement in this state for many years.

A new national organization will help the Massachusetts Nurses Association lobby for its interests in Washington and expand organizing efforts outside the Bay State, MNA officials said.

Pinkham said she expects her group’s name will remain, even while it becomes part of a bigger organization. She said she didn’t expect staffing changes at the Canton headquarters because of the change, although it’s possible some staff members could be placed in roles that have a more national scope.

Pinkham said the new national organization also needs to craft a constitution for itself and its three member organizations. Pinkham said it’s too early to know what kind of impact the national affiliation will have on members’ union dues. She also said it’s not clear where the new national group’s headquarters will be or how many additional staff members would be needed.

“One thing we’re not interested in doing is creating another layer of bureaucracy,” Pinkham said.

Piknick said she expects the members of her organization will likely vote on joining with the other two union groups at its annual convention in October.

The Canton-based organization has about 23,000 members, who collectively have 85 contracts with health care facilities in the state.