Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/198054
NewsBriefs:2 5/29/09 12:19 PM Page 5 American Nurses, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association, a relationship that will be formalized in December when the groups join forces to create a new all RN union. "I am really honored to be here at this historic moment," said Geri Jenkins, RN and a member of the CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents. "We've come together to rally around the issues that we have in common that affect our lives every day and at the workplace." Beth Piknick, RN and president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, agreed that the event signaled a watershed moment for American nursing. "Most of my career I've been involved in the labor movement trying to unite nurses on common ground," said Piknick. "We're all trying to do the same M AY 2 0 0 9 thing. We need to come together for our patients." Patricia Eakin, RN and president of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, a group which in 2008 affiliated with CNA/NNOC, also stressed the importance of nurses working together. "I've always been involved in nursing unionism because I've always known you can be the greatest nurse at the bedside, but if the boss doesn't like you, or you don't have equipment, or if you don't have enough staff, you can only do such much unless you're with a group like this," said Eakin. "I was going to have coffee this morning, but I've gotten so much energy from all the power in this room that I didn't even need a cup of coffee!" —staff report W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G Clockwise from top: RNs rally outside the nation's Capitol for a single-payer healthcare system that lets them fully do their job of healing patients; CNA/NNOC RN board member DeAnn McEwen (facing) and RN Sue Cannon, along with doctors, are arrested for protesting during a Senate Finance Committee hearing that Congress refuses to include a single-payer system in the debate over healthcare reform; RN Leslie Silket joins in the demonstration REGISTERED NURSE 5