Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/1514246
4 » RNs in Motion About National Nurses Organizing Committee WHO WE ARE NNOC has won the best contracts for RNs in the nation through the collective action of our members. Years ago, nurses were among the lowest-paid professionals, had no retirement plan, and worked every weekend. Our aggres- sive organizing has resulted in winning safe staffing conditions, secure retirement, and salaries commensurate with experience. The organization exists to give a voice to the working, direct-care nurse, and a vision for our nation's health care. We believe that strong professional nurses unions will empower us to take our patient advocacy from the bedside to the statehouse and beyond. Individual patient advocacy begins at the bedside and is inseparable from collective, social, and political advocacy in our greater society. We have repeatedly stepped outside the walls of our facilities in our obligation as patient advocates, whether it be CNA's 13-year fight to win and defend California's historic safe-staffing ratios, or forming the Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN), a network of more than 28,500 volunteer direct-care RNs, ready to be deployed to disaster-stricken areas, such as the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, Haiti after its devastating earthquake, Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and Guatemala after the eruption of the Volcan de Fuego. The escalating health care crisis in our country, caused by a system that puts the bottom line ahead of the best interests of patients, presents us with a significant oppor- tunity to transform the health care system. As nurses and patient advocates, we believe we must continue to change this system so that everyone has access to guaranteed health care based on a single standard of high-quality care for all. And we are uniquely positioned to do just that — year after year, nursing heads an annual Gallup Poll survey as the most honest and ethical profession. As members, you have abundant opportunities for edu- cation, personal growth, and meaningful, effective action in your facility, in the halls of our legislatures, and in your communities. NNOC provides you with the protections and the resources to allow you to do so. As members of a professional organization, we monitor and evaluate RN working conditions and the environment of care, and we are committed to exposing and removing barriers to patient advocacy and safe standards of care. We believe that the benefits and opportunities available through membership in NNOC and NNU — together with your desire and responsibility to provide safe, therapeutic, and effective care to your patients — will compel you to be an active member, whether you are a new graduate or a nurse with decades of experience.