National Nurses United

NATIONAL H undreds of National Nurses United RNs from across the country paid online lobbying visits in Wash- ington, D.C. starting May 3 with their federal members of Congress and sena- tors, urging their legislators to confront the staffing crisis in hospitals across the country. Nurses urged their legislators to pass legisla- tion that would increase the number of RNs at the hospital bedside and retain those who are already employed to improve patient care. Challenging the hospital industry's false narrative of a "nursing shortage," the nurses urged Congress instead to deal with the real cri- sis of unsafe staffing levels in their facilities. "The hospital corporations talk about a 'nursing shortage,' which does not exist, to avoid any responsibility for driving nurses away from the bedside," said Deborah Burger, RN, president of NNU. "There was a hospital industry-created staffing crisis in U.S. hospitals that existed before the Covid-19 pandemic but the hospital corporations' behavior during the pandemic greatly exacerbated the crisis." According to data from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are over one million nurses with active RN licenses who are not working as nurses in the United States. Even during the years of the pandemic, the number of RN licenses has increased, and the number of nursing school graduates is the highest it has been in a decade. Data from 2019 to 2022 also shows that the entirety of growth in RN employ- ment during that period has occurred outside of hospitals and instead in other settings like out- patient clinics and doctors' offices. "The hospital industry likes to talk about improving the so-called 'nursing pipeline,' but nurses know that's not the real problem con- fronting our hospitals. The real problem is the horrible working conditions in these hospitals that is driving nurses away," said Burger. "You're not going to solve the problem with a better pipeline if you don't fix the leaky bucket." Nurses lobbied in support of five priority bills during National Nurses Week. They are: •The Nurse Staffing Standards for Hos- pital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act (S. 1113/H.R. 2530), introduced by Sen. Sher- rod Brown and Rep. Jan Schakowsky •The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act (S. 1176/H.R. 2663), introduced by Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Rep. Joe Courtney •The Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act (S. 567/H.R. 20), introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Bobby Scott •The Veterans Administration Employee Fairness Act, to be introduced soon by Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Mark Takano •The Medicare for All Act (S. 1655/H.R. 3421) by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Debbie Dingell. —Staff report RNs commemorate Nurses Week in Capitol Hill lobbying blitz CALIFORNIA R egistered nurses at John Muir Behavioral Health Center in Con- cord, Calif. held a one-day strike on May 3 to protest the hospital man- agement's refusal to address demands for a fair contract with measures to improve recruitment and retention. California Nurses Association represents 78 nurses at the facility. "John Muir has plenty of resources to provide quality care at its Behavioral Health Center, but is failing to uphold its moral duty to nurses, patients, and our commu- nity," Amy Welsh-Ross, a RN in the chemical dependency unit at John Muir Behavioral Health Center, where nurses are in negotiations for their first collective bar- gaining agreement. "Their understaffing is resulting in unsafe assignments, new nurses working without proper support or train- ing, and experienced nurses regularly leaving for better benefits and conditions elsewhere." John Muir Behavioral Health Center (JMBHC) nurses voted to join CNA in Febru- ary 2021 and since the summer of 2021, have been in negotiations with JMBHC manage- ment, with little to no movement on key issues. The RNs urge JMBHC management to invest in nursing staff and agree to a con- tract that ensures better recruitment and retention through: • Improved patient safety and stronger staffing measures, including education and training when nurses float to adjacent spe- cialty units • Competitive benefits with other hospi- tals in the Bay Area "We continue to see an increase in our community's need for behavioral health serv- ices for both adults and children," Megan LaCorte, a RN in the adult behavioral health unit. "We need John Muir to staff up and come ready to settle a contract that will help us retain good nurses who can be strong patient advocates." —Michelle Morris Concord behavioral health RNs strike for first time Nurses are seeking a fair first contract J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 3 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 7

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