National Nurses United

around various state legislatures, states are considering and pass- ing laws that would prevent union members from using automatic dues deductions (even if that's what they want) and require annual elections to recertify the union. These measures are intended to stymie the true work of the union, representing employees and the greater social good, and instead keep unions scrambling to simply exist and survive. Though public-sector workers were targeted first, nurses employed by the private sector can expect to be next. In addition to pushing for state-by-state "right-to-work" legislation, corporate forces will be pushing for a federal "right-to-work" law that will cover the country in one fell swoop. "The Janus decision did not happen in a vacuum. It was calculated and deliberate, and meant to undo the good works that unions have worked so hard to achieve for decades," said Jean Ross, RN and a National Nurses United copresident. "The ultimate goal is to not only cripple public unions, but private unions also, so there would be no one left to speak for and protect the working people of this country." NNU nurses are determined to not only withstand this assault on their rights to collec- tive action, but use this opportunity to have new conversations and ultimately build an even stronger union. NNU nurses understand the importance of their union in being able to advocate for their patients, for themselves, and for nursing. Especially drawing from NNU's existing work in right-to-work states, RNs have developed a plan to fight back, and are already seeing encouraging signs that if they continue to connect with and educate their coworkers and other RN colleagues about the need solidarity through a strong union, the nurses will prevail. "When I talk to [fellow] nurses to reinforce how important unions are, I try to bring to light the good things that the union has already achieved in our facility and let them know that these things are in place because the union has fought for them," said Estela Bil- legas, who works at UCLA Medical Center in the pediatric intensive care unit. "They aren't there just because the hospital is nice to us." Ross agrees. "While events right now are particularly dire, we also have a real opportunity here to galvanize our members, our allies, and the public to turn things around," she said. J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 11

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