National Nurses United

NewsBriefs_Oct Alt 12/30/09 2:06 PM Page 6 Kansas RNs at Menorah Medical Center Join CNA/NNOC their nurse representatives and bargaining team members. Schall said she was im pressed by the training for nurse representatives since she had received little instruction in the past on what to do as a union steward. "I'm just really, really excited about the impact we're going to have on Menorah and nationally," said Schall. "We are delighted to welcome the Menorah Medical Center nurses," said Malinda Markowitz, RN and a member of the CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents who works at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, Calif., also an HCA hospital. "HCA RNs joining together is a truly exciting development that bodes well for all HCA RNs—and our patients." —staff report From left: Kansas RNs Nancy Pippert, Sharyn Perry, and Linda Schall of Menorah Medical Center celebrate their unionization victory. KANSAS M ore than 300 RNs at Menorah Medical Center in Overland Park became the first collective bargaining members from Kansas to join the national nurses movement when they won their election in late November to unionize with Nurses United, the local arm of CNA/NNOC. Menorah is owned by HCA, the largest private hospital corporation in the world. The RNs had previously been organized with the medical arm of a teachers union, but were eager to join an all-RN union run by staff nurses so that they could "help bring ratios to Kansas and be part of a bigger picture in advocating for patients," said Linda Schall, a preop RN for almost 13 years at Menorah and an organizing committee leader. "I was blown away by nurses who came from all over the country to support us," said Schall. "We met HCA nurses from San Jose who said, 'Hey, I work for HCA and we have this. We think you should have it, too.' We want to work toward what they have, but it takes a strong membership." Schall said that some of the biggest issues Menorah RNs want to tackle are understaffing on the floors, the lack of dedicated break relief 6 REGISTERED NURSE nurses on the floors, and winning back a defined-benefit pension for nurses. RNs at Menorah are currently electing Nurses Top Ethics Poll, Again Yes, nurses have done it again. In the Gallup Poll's annual November survey of the public's view of various professions' honesty and ethics, RNs ranked highest for the seventh year in a row. Nurses have actually taken the top position for all years since they were added to the survey in 1999, except for 2001 shortly after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks when firefighters edged them out. The poll's results mean that 84 percent of Americans surveyed said nurses' honesty and ethical standards rate either "high" or "very high." Notably, RNs ranked highest among all medical professionals, more than 14 points higher than pharmacists and 20 points higher than medical doctors. "Again, this poll shows that the public really trusts us to be their advocates and, among all healthcare providers, to look out for their best interests," said Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, RN and a member of the CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents. "We nurses need to live up to that trust and fight our hardest on national issues like ratios and healthcare reform to ensure all Americans get care based on what they need, not the size of their wallets." Notably, bankers suffered a 12 percentage-point drop in this year's poll. —STAFF REPORT W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2009

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