MAY 13: National RN Day of Action

Hundreds of Nurses Mark New “Nursing Super Union” Washington DC March for RN Ratios, Healthcare Reform

In an unprecedented event marking the beginning of a cohesive, national movement of registered nurses, hundreds of nurses from across America will march and rally in Washington DC, today, May 13 in an RN day of action. The focus for the event, which coincides with National Nurses Week, is on the national nurses legislative agenda, especially the critical patient safety reforms that are a key component of efforts to reform the healthcare system and cure our national healthcare crisis.

Event schedule

TODAY, May 13 – RN Day of Action:

Conference on RN Ratios, Rights and Representation:
with panels on RN legislation and on the Employee Free Choice Act
9 a.m. - 12 noon, Washington Court Hotel, 525 New Jersey Ave NW
**Speakers to include Sen. Barbara Boxer (10:30 a.m.), Reps. Lynn Woolsey, Jan Schakowski, RN union leaders

March and Rally on RN Ratios and Guaranteed Healthcare:
March 12:15 p.m., from Washington Court Hotel
Rally 12:30 - 2 p.m., Upper Senate Park, Washington D.C.
**Speakers to include: AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, Mike Farrell, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Reps. John Conyers, Eric Massa, RN union leaders
 
RN Lobby Visits:
2 p.m. - 5 p.m., Capitol Hill

Participating sponsors include:  California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, United American Nurses, Massachusetts Nurses Association, Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, New York State Nurses Association, Service Employees International Union Nurse Alliance

A centerpiece of the day is the pending introduction of new federal legislation, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, to guarantee a safe ratio of nurses to patients in American hospitals. 

That bill, modeled on California’s safe RN-to-patient ratio law, would end the common hospital industry practice of overloading RNs with too many patients, thereby depriving patients of adequate nursing care, a practice which prematurely ends the life of tens of thousands of American patients each year. 

RNs will proceed from a morning conference to a mid-day march and rally, which will also include an emphasis on the need for comprehensive healthcare reform, as in a single standard of quality care for all, and then to Capitol Hill to advocate for the Boxer bill, and for their larger legislative agenda, which brings together quality of care, nurse protection, and healthcare access concerns.

The RN Day of Action is the first national event involving three of the sponsors, CNA/NNOC, United American Nurses, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association who are in the process of unifying into a new national organization of 150,000 RNs, what some have called an RN "super union" that will be the largest RN union and professional association in U.S. history.