America’s Nurses Protest Hospital Industry for Failing Patients: Tuesday, Phoenix

March Comes One Day After Historic Founding of First-ever National Union of RNs: National Nurses United

One day after the founding of National Nurses United, the first-ever national union of registered nurses, those RNs are taking their patient safety agenda to the hospital industry, with a December 8 march targeting the Arizona Hospital Association and American Hospital Association for their efforts to block life-saving patient safety reforms and to prevent nurses from exercising their free choice to organize.  Some 200 RNs representing every state in the union are expected to march on the hospital association, fresh from the founding convention of this new AFL-CIO-affiliated union.

What:        RNs from largest-ever national union march on  hospital 
                association to demand patient care improvements
When:       Tuesday, December 8, 11 a.m.
Where:      Offices of the AZ Hospital Association
                2901 N. Central Phoenix, Ariz.
       
National Nurses United brings together the leading voices of direct-care RNs from coast to coast now represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, United American Nurses, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

It will unify nurses from Hawaii to Maine who are pledged to work together on an ambitious campaign that includes:

• Expanding RN union representation for tens of thousands of non-union nurses.
• Passing national legislation, including S 1031 that would establish minimum RN-to-patient staffing ratios, protecting the role of RN as patient advocate, and creating a federal program to promote nursing education and retention.
• Coordinating national efforts to defend and improve RN standards and patient care conditions for nurses and patients in hospitals across the country.
• Building alliances with sister nurse organizations around the world.

The Phoenix convention culminates months of preparation dating back to last February when the three organizations announced plans to pursue unification.

In May, CNA/NNOC, UAN, and MNA cosponsored, with several other nurses organizations, the first National RN Day of Action in Washington, D.C. that featured a march and rally in the shadow of the Capitol for ratios and guaranteed healthcare and a presentation by S 1031 author Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Support for the unification followed this fall with resolutions adopted separately in convention by each of the three organizations.

At the Phoenix convention, delegates will elect a three-member NNU Council of Presidents, and discuss a vision of building RN power for the future of nursing and patient care.