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NewsBriefs:May 5/27/08 12:32 PM Page 4 NewsBriefs Houston, We Have Liftoff Texas RNs win a historic victory two times over TEXAS ns in houston, texas have won an organizing victory so sweet that they had to savor it not once, but twice. On Friday, March 28, RNs at Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center voted 119 to 111 in favor of union representation by CNA/NNOC. Hospital administrators immediately filed objections, but once again, the nurses prevailed: on May 6, a neutral third party arbitrator dismissed all objections based on testimony from several nurses, widening the door to labor democracy in the Lone Star State. "We knew in our heart that we won," said Josie Jupio, an ICU RN. "but to have it in writing, I feel delighted that it's official." R 4 REGISTERED NURSE The election, and its subsequent confirmation through arbitration, represents a monumental historic achievement for nurses in Texas and labor activists across the country. Although CNA/NNOC has members in all 50 states, Cypress Fairbanks (often abbreviated as "CyFair") RNs constitute the organization's first Texas bargaining unit. More significantly, the 300 nurses of CyFair hold the distinct honor of working in the first private-sector hospital in all of Texas to win union collective bargaining rights. "It's a big milestone, being the first in the state," said Keith Merritt, an ER RN at CyFair. For Chris Williams, RN, the election was especially significant because of its proximiW W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G ty to the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Calling the civil rights movement and the labor movement the nation's "two most progressive movements," Williams promised that "nurses at CyFair will try to expand upon [Dr. King's] vision with respect to patient care in Texas." Texas AFL-CIO President Becky Moeller hailed the organizing success as a CNA/ NNOC milestone: "This may well be the start of an unprecedented organizing swing for a union that has the resources to build solidarity and knows how to get it done." National AFL-CIO President John Sweeney lauded the victory as well, recognizing that the stakes in Texas, a traditionally M AY 2 0 0 8