National Nurses United

SEIU:FINAL 7/3/08 1:19 PM Page 13 "She helps us see the big picture and the role and the power we have to foment change for the better, not just for ourselves, but for the society in which we live and work." —geri jenkins, rn president emeritus. "They actually told me I wouldn't understand and that it would be over my head." When CNA nurse executives discharged DeMoro for working with staff nurses to assume control of their organization and step up the fight for their patients, their colleagues, and their profession, she came to a fork in the road. As a seasoned and respected labor leader, organizer and activist, she could have easily moved on and found work at another union. Or she could stay and fight the injustice at both the bedside and within their own organization faced by the women and men she had helped to organize. "She made the decision that she wasn't going to give up and walk away," McVay says. "If she had done that, I firmly believe we would not have grown at all as an organization." Instead, DeMoro stayed and fought together with a group of staff and direct-care RNs advocating for staff nurse leadership and union democracy within CNA, as well as aggressively challenging the corporatization of medical care, and moving to establish a single-payer healthcare system. In 1993, staff nurses for the first time won a majority on the CNA board of directors and ushered in a new era for CNA, with DeMoro now at the helm as executive director and a board of bedside RNs elected by their peers. Since then, CNA has more than quadrupled in size and grown into one of the most influential and dynamic labor unions in the nation. DeMoro has spearheaded fearless campaigns, such as the one creating RN-to-patient safe staffing ratios, defeating the attempt by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at the height of his popularity to roll back the ratios, winning battle after battle against corporate hospital attacks on RNs and patients, and gaining national renown for leadership in the campaign for genuine healthcare reform. CNA has earned its reputation as a political force to be reckoned with — and along the way improved the working conditions of thousands of nurses, enabling them to bargain contracts with the highest standards of pay, benefits, professional protections, and patient safety provisions available in the country. In 2005, after receiving requests from all over the country to expand California's RN standards nationwide, CNA inaugurated the JUNE 2008 National Nurses Organizing Committee to unite RNs across the nation with a vision of a national nurses' movement. Later that year, CNA/NNOC won its first bargaining unit in Cook County, Ill. Three short years later, CNA/NNOC represents bargaining units from California to Maine and boasts members in all 50 states. CNA/NNOC is sponsoring patient safety legislation, with ratios, legal protections for RN patient advocacy rights, and whistle-blower protection in a number of state legislatures. CNA/NNOC's membership tops 85,000 today and continues to grow at an exponential rate. While these significant advances have been made possible through the tireless leadership and advocacy of bedside RNs, it has been DeMoro working so closely with the staff nurse leadership who made it possible for these nurses to have their voices heard. In recent years, she has won numerous awards and national recognition for her achievements and leadership as well as the organization's pioneering accomplishments. Among the awards, she was named by MSN to be among 10 leading influential women in America, selected by Esquire magazine as one of America's "best and brightest," honored as "Consumer Advocate of the Year," and selected for five consecutive years by Modern Healthcare magazine's list of the nation's most influential players in healthcare. "As nurses, we tend to get focused on immediate needs," says Geri Jenkins, RN and a member of the CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents. "She helps us see the big picture and the role and the power we have to foment change for the better, not just for ourselves, but for the society in which we live and work." "All RNs in the organization have an active voice in all aspects of the CNA/NNOC," says Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, RN and also a member of the presidents' council. "She challenges you to do more than you think you can do, and that's how our RNs have come to serve as an activist model organization for the entire country. Rose Ann believes that is the first principle of organization. Our favorite saying around here is 'Leaders aren't made, they're cornered.'" "Rose Ann advocates for us with the same depth and determination with which we advocate for our patients," adds McVay. "Together, with the conviction of that advocacy, we are moving an agenda for single payer in this country where every individual is entitled to the highest level of care." "She helps us face challenges more effectively than anyone I have known," agrees Malinda Markowitz, RN, a third president's council member. "She has sensitivity to the problems that we face on a daily basis at work and trying to care for our patients. The interests of the staff nurses and patients are the driving forces for all that she does. I always say that patients want the best nurse available to care for them. Well, the nurses want the best person available to lead them in the fight for workers' rights. That person is Rose Ann." "Part of our union being a truly democratic one is that the leadership is all direct care nurses, and we're all working," says Deborah Burger, RN and the fourth member of the president's council. "Rose Ann is an irreplaceable resource to enable the processes and campaigns it takes to fulfill the nurses' vision." "We've got plenty of clinical experience," McVay concludes, "but we don't have the labor and organization-building experience which she brings. We need someone with vision. And Rose Ann has tremendous vision. We never would have been this successful as an organization had we not all been in it together." Herb Gunter, Director of Public Media Center once called her "'Mother Theresa with brass knuckles,'" McVay laughs. "I will second that!" I W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G REGISTERED NURSE 13

• Cover