National Nurses United

NATIONAL NURSE,™ (USPS publication permit number 0807-560/ISSN 2153-0386 print/ISSN 2153-0394 online) The Voice of National Nurses United, July-August-Sep- tember 2018 (Volume 114/4) is published by National Nurses United, 155 Grand Avenue, Oakland, CA 94612-2908. It provides news of or ganizational activities and reports on developments of concern to all registered nurses across the nation. It also carries gen- eral coverage and commen tary on matters of nursing practice, community and public health, and healthcare policy. It is published five times per year, with combined issues in January-February, March-April, May-June, July-August-September, and October- November-December. Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, California. POSTMASTER: send address changes to National Nurse, ™ 155 Grand Avenue, Oakland, CA 94612-2908. To send a media release or announce- ment, fax (510) 663-0629. National Nurse™ is carried on the NNU website at www.nationalnursesunited.org. For permission to reprint articles, write to Editorial Office. To subscribe, send $40 ($45 foreign) to Subscription Department. Please contact us with your story ideas They can be about practice or manage- ment trends you've observed, or simply something new you've encountered in the profession. They can be about one nurse, unit, or hospital, or about the wider landscape of healthcare policy from an RN's perspective. They can be humorous, or a matter of life and death. If you're a writer and would like to contribute an article, please let us know. You can reach us at nationalnurse@nationalnursesunited.org EXECUTIVE EDITOR Bonnie Castillo, RN EDITOR Lucia Hwang GRAPHIC DESIGN Jonathan Wieder COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR Sarah Cecile CONTRIBUTORS Barb Brady, Gerard Brogan, RN PHOTOGRAPHY Jaclyn Higgs, Tad Keyes, Sarah Maple, Choppy Oshiro times are hard, but nurses hang tough. That's the conclu- sion we drew looking back over the organization's work over the last few months. Our organization did not mope about the horrible Janus v AFSCME ruling in June. No, we just used it as a kick in the butt to organize wider and deeper among our membership, to talk about the impor- tance of our union to help us do the best job we can as nurs- es. As you can read in this issue's analysis story about what to expect after Janus, very few nurses have left our ranks. Our collective work as our union is understood by many, but we can do better. It must be understood, and engaged with, by all our members. That's the goal. Full participation. There's more to crow about. Over the summer, we settled a number of key system contracts covering thousands of nurses, including our VA nurses and our Chicago nurses. Our University of California nurses were voting on a new contract just as we were going to press, so we'll report on their victory in the next issue. On top of that, we had two facilities secure their first-ever contracts! Those of us who organized our workplaces and were witness to first contract settlements will remember the thrill and accomplishment of those seminal events. Every summer we also bring you our annual book reviews. We've got some really good reads this year. There's a memoir by a nurse who worked in the United Kingdom's National Health Service, and a fascinating examination of patient-provider communications. One title that stands out is historian Nancy MacLean's latest work, Democracy in Chains. We won't spoil the plot for you, but let's just say that this important nonfiction book could also be shelved in the horror section! What MacLean relates about the cur- rent political forces at work in our country is really disturb- ing, but nurses do not bury their heads in the sand. We need and want to know what's coming so that we can prepared. We hope the news in this issue's pages help you do just that. Deborah Burger, RN | Jean Ross, RN National Nurses United Copresidents Letter from the NNU presidents Stay connected FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/NationalNurses TWITTER: @RNmagazine, @NationalNurses FLICKR: www.flickr.com/nationalnursesunited VIMEO: www.vimeo.com/NationalNursesUnited DIGITAL MAGAZINE: NationalNurseMagazine.org

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