Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/1521816
RNs in Motion ยป 13 2022 NNU members kick off the new year with a National Day of Action, including a candlelight vigil in Washington, D.C. to mourn nurses who lost their lives to Covid-19 and actions across the nation, demanding that the hospital industry invest in safe staffing. RNs also call on President Biden to prioritize public health and follow through on his campaign promises to protect nurses with a permanent Covid-19 workplace health and safety standard. Overcoming employer delays, RNs at Longmont United Hospital in Longmont, Colorado, win recognition in March, becoming the first private-sector NNU-affiliated hospital in Col. and joining NNU-affiliated RNs at VA facilities in Denver and Aurora. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) reintroduces the NNU- supported bill, the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, in the U.S. Senate. The House version passed in April 2021 and would hold employers accountable for preventing violence in the workplace. NNU Executive Director Bonnie Castillo, RN, testifies in a U.S. Senate hearing that Covid-19 impacts on health care are evidence that Medicare for All is necessary now more than ever. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) reintroduces Medicare for All legislation, with 14 cosponsors, later the same day. Nurses at Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin vote to join NNOC, making it the largest private-sector unionized hospital in Texas. The 800 nurses join more than 2,500 other Texas members of NNOC in El Paso, Corpus Christi, and Brownsville. Coral Gables Hospital nurses win their first contract in record-breaking time, less than three months after voting to unionize in July. RNs at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine, ratify their first-ever contract. NNOC represents 2,000 RNs at the facility. New York State Nurses Association, with nearly 42,000 members, votes to affiliate with NNU, growing NNU's membership to nearly 225,000 and bringing NYSNA into the AFL-CIO. Nurses vote to join NNOC at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis Hospital, the largest hospital in Wichita, Kan., and the first private-sector hospital to become unionized by RNs in the city.