Southern RNs Not Keen on New Union Push on Nashville Medical News

Southern RNs Not Keen on New Union Push

By: LYNNE JETER

Workplace Advocacy States "Not Distracted by Some of the Contentiousness Created by Unions"

Leaders of the United American Nurses-National Nurses Organizing Committee (UAN-NNOC) are confident that other state associations will join the newly formed 150,000-member group, established to ramp up unionization efforts across the country.

But most RNs across the South are not keen on the new union push.

"Approximately half of the states of the ANA are union states and half, like Mississippi, are workplace advocacy states," explained Ricki Garrett, PhD, executive director of the Mississippi Nurses Association. "The Mississippi Nurses Association has never been a union, but we strongly advocate for the best interests of nursing and nurses."

The UAN-NNOC evolved after the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA-NNOC), United American Nurses (UAN), and the Massachusetts Nurses Association broke away from the American Nurses Association (ANA), the largest, most diverse nursing organization in the country.

"The ANA recently broke away from their union: the UAN, and their workforce advocacy group, the Center for American Nurses," explained Garrett. "That has led to the recent coalition among the UAN, CNA and the Massachusetts Nurses Association, none of which are a part of ANA."

Hot Spots

The major players in the new collaboration represent populous areas in the Northeast and on the West Coast.

In particular, CNA-NNOC is the fastest-growing association of direct-care nurses, with 85,000 members in Texas, Nevada, Maine and Pennsylvania. CNA led the fight for ratios in California in 1999 and is the only state in the nation with safe staffing laws on the books. Those levels, pointed out executive director Rose Ann DeMoro, not only protect patients by ensuring adequate nursing care, but also protect nurses and ensure the ratio will not change during economic downturns.

Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina and Tennessee have nurses organizations involved in the RN unionization movement and/or are members of the CNA, said David Schildmeier, director of public communications for the Massachusetts Nurses Association,

"Workplace advocacy states like Mississippi are extremely effective in advocating for nurses and are not distracted by some of the contentiousness created by unions," said Garrett. "We have a severe shortage of nurses in our country and also less than optimal working environments. Nurses need to work together to advocate for what is best for nursing and for healthcare."

The ANA, which is at the center of the controversy, has been low-key about the break. In response to the formation of the UAN-NNOC, ANA spokesperson Mary McNamara said the ANA "respects the rights of the nation's 2.9 million nurses to choose not only their professional work environments, but their membership organizations as well."

"Today, there is greater recognition that in many parts of the country we're not experiencing a shortage of nurses, but rather, a shortage of good workplaces where RNs choose to work," said McNamara.

Speaking Of …

Good workplaces are highly touted in the South. North Carolina now has 21 facilities designated by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) as Magnet hospitals. The Tar Heel state is surpassed only by New Jersey and is tied with Texas and Florida for the second highest number of Magnet facilities in the nation.

An Unusual Arrangement

California Nurses Association (CNA) president Debra Berger was quick to point out the newly formed UAN-NNOC is "more of an amalgamation than a merger," calling the United American Nurses and Massachusetts Nurses Association "tremendous allies."

Yet it was a strategic move to form the United American Nurses-National Nurses Organizing Committee (UAN-NNOC) at a time when the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was attacking the California group.

The SEIU made headlines in early February for impersonating nurses in a hostile multi-million dollar, multimedia takeover campaign against the CNA.

Despite the animosity between both groups, which together represent the nation's largest unions of healthcare workers and registered nurses, CNA and the SEIU made a dramatic move on March 19 when they announced forming a partnership to accelerate the drive to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and expedite unionization in the healthcare sector.

"We're lining up to make sweeping changes to this country's broken healthcare system, and as we wait for the starting gun, it's imperative that we put the past behind us and move forward by putting all healthcare workers in the strongest possible position to define reform, move legislation, and make the new healthcare system operational," said SEIU president Andy Stern. "Is this accord surprising? Perhaps, but those who recognize our shared value of making sure registered nurses and other healthcare workers have not only a say but a critical role in helping reshape a failed system into something that actually helps people, know that this is the right step to help us meet the challenge and the call of this moment."

"The high number of Magnet hospitals in the state is one indicator that North Carolina's nursing workplaces are among the best in the nation," said Tina Gordon of the North Carolina Nurses Association (NCNA).

To supplement the program, NCNA recently developed the Hallmarks of Healthy Workplaces program, allowing nursing workplaces to earn the NCNA seal of approval.

"Where the Magnet recognition is limited to hospital workplaces, Hallmarks recognition is available to any outstanding nursing workplace where more than three RNs work full-time," explained Gordon.

Established in 1902, NCNA represents 107,000 RNs.

"ANA supports all strategies to improve the workplace environment," said McNamara, pointing out the ANA is the largest and most diverse organization committed to convening the nursing community to strategically address the systemic issues impacting the profession and the nation to develop both unified messages and approaches to problem resolution.

"Collectively, ANA and its Constituent Member Associations (CMAs) represent over 170,000 members," she continued. "Additionally, the 23 specialty nursing organizations that currently connect to ANA as affiliates represent approximately 330,000 more RNs."

At press time, the ANA had not responded to questions about state nurses organizations in the South, if any, that may be involved in the RN unionization movement.