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Profile:2 5/27/08 12:20 PM Page 16 A Living Legacy San Francisco unionism was the legacy passed on to CNA/NNOC board member diane koorsones, rn. She hopes to leave single-payer healthcare as hers. by e ri ka larson S ome cna/nnoc members come to activism almost by accident, not knowing all that much about the role the union plays in their lives until a grievance or an action helps them understand and appreciate the union's work. Not for CNA/NNOC board member Diane Koorsones, RN. For this San Francisco native, unionism has been a thread woven throughout her family from her upbringing to her married life and her current involvement with CNA/NNOC. Koorsones grew up in a San Francisco that is still defined by a colorful and powerful labor history. Her future husband's father was a longshoreman who developed a friendship with legendary labor leader Harry Bridges. Her father, a janitor who worked at public events at theaters and arenas, banded together with his coworkers when she was a young girl to demand better wages and working conditions. Koorsones describes walking the picket lines with her father "so many times I can't even remember." Just as the family supported the laborers during their times of struggle, the union in turn supported her family. When Koorsones' father passed away, it was his union that ensured her mother continued to receive his pension. While it was no accident that Koorsones was destined to grow up with a healthy appreciation of worker solidarity, her decision to become a nurse was almost coincidental. Originally enrolled at San At center: Diane Koorsones, raised in the tradition of standing up to the bosses, Francisco State University to study education, Koor- RN, attending the SiCKO knew that patient advocacy was the driving force sones was faced with a decision when the college dis- film premier in New York behind her profession. She was chosen by her colcontinued her program. "It was very spur of the City with fellow CNA/NNOC leagues to stand up to the hospital administration. "I moment," she admits, but she soon found herself board members was only 22, and they sent me down to tell them we thriving as a nursing student. "I developed a talent for would only take one patient per nurse," she rememit. I looked back at my old transcripts recently and saw that I'd gotten bers. "After that, the doctors had to decide which surgeries to prioristraight A's throughout nursing school." tize in order not to overwork the nurses." Mandatory shift rotations, Koorsones' first nursing job was at a Veterans Administration hos- sometimes as often at two or three times a week, were also a major pital in San Francisco, where things were chaotic, to say the least. problem at the VA hospital. "The nurses really had to stand our "They performed major surgeries there, things like craniology and ground on the issue of shift rotation and shift times." open-heart surgery. And they would assign two of these patients at a Koorsones' next job took her to Kaiser Permanente South San time to one nurse." It was at the VA hospital that Koorsones first Francisco, where she still works today. By this time she had a young earned her stripes as an agitator for patient safety and nurses' rights. daughter at home, and was relieved to find an employer that would Although she did not yet belong to a union, Koorsones, having been let her leave work by 6 a.m. so that her husband could start his day at 16 REGISTERED NURSE W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G M AY 2 0 0 8