National Nurses United

J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0 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 T he world health Organi- zation's "Year of the Nurse," was supposed to uplift and honor our profession. Of course, this year did not turn out the way we expected, but make no mistake: When they write the history books, the chapter on 2020 will be about nurses. We have been living through an unprece- dented, historic time, when our patients are at risk like never before, and when our employers and government are displaying a whole new level of disregard for nurses' lives. When things feel like they are spinning out of control, when we feel overwhelmed with grief and anger, union nurses know that we can always return to hope through our solidarity. That's why it was so powerful that the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) was able to come together online for our convention this Sept. 9–12. I really can't say enough good things about what we accomplished at this first-ever virtual conference, with the help of guests whose brilliant talks, performances, and art uplifted us and helped us recommit to our mission as a union. It was especially moving to hear from nurses about their fight at the facility level. That's what all National Nurses United members have been doing for months: Stand- ing up, and speaking your truth to power. The impact of your voice is undeniable. In fact, just one week after our convention, the nurses at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C. voted by a stunning 70 percent to join CNA/NNOC. It was the first private-sector hospital union election win in North Carolina, and the largest at any nonunion hospital in the South since 1975. For labor as a whole, it is also believed to be the largest union election win in the South in 12 years. This historic victory happened in an area of the country where it's supposedly impossible to unionize. But as Nelson Mandela said, "It always seems impossible until it's done." As union nurses, our solidarity makes every- thing possible. Two weeks after our convention, I was honored on the 2020 TIME100 list of the most influential people in the world. This award is about all of you—and shared with all of you—because when our patients needed protection during the most danger- ous pandemic of our lifetimes, nurses got loud. You held more than 1,500 actions across the country since April, including two at the White House, spoke up in hundreds of media stories, and made sure your demands resonated. To see National Nurses United there in the TIME100 "Leaders" category, along with honorees such as Dr. Anthony Fauci and the heads of countries around the world, high- lights the authority that the world recognizes in our union. We gained major international recognition, and the mighty NNU nurses and hardworking NNU staff should all be so proud. (You can visit time.com/TIME100 to read more about all the honorees.) And by the time you read these words, public-sector nurses from California, in San Joaquin County and at Alameda and San Leandro hospitals, will have held a five-day strike, from Oct. 7–12. Nurses do not take the decision to strike lightly. (If we did, we would have struck after a week or a month of our lives and our patients' lives being put at risk during a deadly pandemic.) But when we have exhausted every option, and manage- ment still won't prioritize people over profits, nurses are not afraid to withhold our labor to protect our patients and ourselves. So where do we go from here? As we head into fall, with flu season on the hori- zon, and the threat of another Covid-19 surge hitting communities across the coun- try, we must continue to stand together stronger than ever before. Our employers are happy to institute "emergency" standards, like unsafe staffing and using an N95 respirator until it falls apart, because these conditions save them money. We saw this attack on our profession and our workplace safety even before Covid-19, but it has accelerated during the pandemic. They will do everything in their power to make those conditions permanent. Union nurses won't stand for that. We are a self-determining profession. While our employers are trying to use this pandemic as an excuse to change things for the worse, nurses know that we can emerge from this into a world that values life. We will keep fighting for that world at the bedside, in the streets, in the regulatory arena, in Congress, at the White House, in our statehouses, and anywhere our voice makes a difference. Yes, this is the "Year of the Nurse." It's the year we take our solidarity and our union power to the next level, the year when we are under attack like never before, and we respond by organizing and rising up like never before. 2020 is the year when we stand with our working-class allies every- where, until we are the ones writing our own history. Bonnie Castillo, RN is executive director of National Nurses United. Bonnie Castillo, RN Executive Director, National Nurses United Right Side of History Nurses spoke truth to power in 2020 and saved lives While our employers are trying to use this pandemic as an excuse to change things for the worse, nurses know that we can emerge from this into a world that values life. We will keep fighting for that world at the bedside, in the streets, in the regulatory arena, in Congress, at the White House, in our statehouses, and anywhere our voice makes a difference.

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