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NEWS BRIEFS It���s a Go for El Paso! RNs Unionize R TEXAS egistered nurses at Providence Memorial Hospital in El Paso voted by 64 percent Oct. 16 to join National Nurses Organizing Committee-Texas, the Texas affiliate of National Nurses United. The win was a landslide, 201-115, for NNOC-Texas, which will represent some 500 RNs at the hospital.�� ���I am so glad we were successful at joining the NNOC,��� said Providence Memorial RN Guadalupe Bessire. ���A lot of brave nurses stepped forward to fight for our patients and our profession. We look forward to working with RNs from across El Paso and Texas to improve patient care and to have a unified voice for Texas nurses.��� Providence became the third hospital NNOC-Texas represents in El Paso, and the sixth in Texas overall, a state where no private hospital RNs had collective representation prior to a 2008 vote by RNs at Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center in Houston, like Providence a part of the Tenet Healthcare system. In addition to Texas, the Providence RNs will join nearly 5,000 RNs at 12 Tenet hospitals in California, Florida, and Missouri. Sherri Stoddard, RN, chair of NNOC���s national Tenet RN Bargaining Council, hailed the election outcome and said ���all Tenet and NNU RNs look forward to collaborating with our newest colleagues at Providence as we work together to promote patient care standards across the board in Tenet and all hospitals. When RNs come together, patients, nurses and communities win.��� Next up for the Providence RNs will be to elect a team of their colleagues to represent them in talks for their first collective bargaining agreement with hospital management. Meanwhile, the RNs said they will work to achieve improved hospital staffing, better pay, health and retirement benefits, uninterrupted meal and rest breaks, adequate equipment and supplies, and meaningful representation and respectful treatment. All steps, they say, that will enhance quality patient care and promote retention and recruitment of RNs.���Staff report Just Say No to Hyatt Did you know that nurses and other workers are actively boycotting Hyatt hotels? Hyatt housekeepers and their union, UNITE HERE, launched a global boycott of Hyatt in July, and National Nurses United RN leaders voted to support them. Hyatt has been mistreating housekeepers and other hotel employees, replacing longtime staff with minimum-wage temps and overloading work onto the remaining workers. Hyatt banks huge revenues from medical-related conferences, including nurse specialty organizations, so nurses��� participation can make a big difference. Honor the Hyatt boycott. Don���t book rooms or go to events at Hyatt hotels. For more information, please visit www.Hyatthurts.org. To read more about how Hyatt profits off of medical conferences, download this document from www.Hyatthurts.org/wp-content/uploads/Beyond-the-Exam-Room.pdf. 4 N AT I O N A L N U R S E 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 O C TO B E R 2 0 1 2