National Nurses United

NewsBriefs:October 2007 10/18/07 12:04 AM chicken-or-egg arguments about which came first. It is CNA/NNOC's view that strong workplace organization lays the groundwork for a strong political program. I've been passing around this chapter from a book written a few years ago. The author talks about the role of shop steward systems (we call shop stewards nurse reps in most of our places) in democratizing the workplace. I like that view of a union: union organization transforms the workplace from a dictatorship to a democracy. In this chapter the author goes further, however. He goes on to say that these steward systems also played a key role in democratizing society and increasing the political power of the workers. That's a potent statement: There is a direct relationship between workplace organization and working-class power in general society. That's how we at CNA/NNOC view the world. If you look for the sources of our considerable political power here in California, you will trace it back to our workplace strength and leverage. Our workplace power is derived from our militancy, the strength of our internal organization, and our ability to organize the unorganized. This connection between our workplace power and political power speaks volumes about the importance of our facility organization. Strong internal organization determines not only how successful we will be in winning good contracts but also our success in winning legislative and regulatory victories as well. By the way, when we talk about our political power, let us not forget the success of our new organizing. The fact that we've grown from 17,000 members in 1992 to 75,000 members today explains a lot about the expansion of our political influence. I think that's an important insight. And it goes back to the original issue raised by the reporter about us doing political work at the expense of representational work. The reality is we can't do one without the other. If you accept our view of the world, you can't do politics without taking care of business at the facility. And the better we are at taking care of our bargaining and organizing work, the better we will be at our political work. They are interrelated. Both are absolutely necessary. And our ultimate success in building a single-payer movement and a national nurses union will depend on how well we do both. —mike griffing OCTOBER 2007 Page 11 HOUSE OF DELEGATES 2007 Don't Mess With Texas ulie dalby and Elise Rich, two Texas RNs working in the labor and delivery unit of North Austin Medical Center, had watched in frustration for years as nurses fled their department because the staffing was so poor and the workload so overwhelming. But when four seasoned coworkers recently decided to leave, the two of them finally chose to do something about their working conditions. "It was a revolving door," described Dalby to an audience of RN peers during a session about national organizing at the 2007 House of Delegates convention. "Nurses would come in, see how crazy our unit was, and leave. Elise and I, we're very friendly, so it wasn't us driving them away!" The unit's nurses started organizing, meeting in coffee shops and ultimately presenting their hospital management with a letter strongly recommending from the staff nurse perspective what needed to be fixed to recruit and retain coworkers. Along the way, they learned about the organizing efforts of CNA/NNOC in Texas and quickly joined up. Their hospital has predictably not agreed to the RNs' demands, but the two nurses – like others across Texas and other states – have shifted the dominant paradigm by refusing to simply grin and bear what employers are dishing out. "Just five or six months ago we had never heard of NNOC and here we are, speaking in front of everybody, telling our story," said Rich. "It's so inspiring and empowering." Dalby and Rich are just two examples of the energy and passion driving CNA/ NNOC's organizing efforts in Texas and J W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G other states as well. Just in the past year, nurses in the Lone Star State have introduced ratio legislation, marched on the capital, convened public forums discussing the understaffing crisis in hospitals, formed metropolitan organizing committees, and started acting as a de facto union at University Hospital in San Antonio, part of the Bexar County Hospital District, through the formation of patient care advocacy committees. While organizing nurses in California can be very hard, organizing nurses in other states can seem downright impossible. California nurses enjoy higher rates of unionization and, especially in some parts of the state such as the Bay Area, have achieved critical mass such that non-unionized nurses often feel they have little to lose and a lot to gain if they join. In contrast, virtually no nurses in Texas are unionized, and Texas is also a "right to work" state, which means that even if a majority of nurses were successful in voting in a union, nurses would not have to join. On top of those onerous rules, it's illegal for Texas government employers to enter into collective bargaining agreements with unions. "It is illegal, but we don't care," said Jackie Francis, an RN at University Hospital. "The nurses really need to wake up. The nurses are scared. We need to let them know they are not alone and they have a voice." Despite these obstacles, Texas nurses are fed up and ready to challenge their abysmal working conditions. Their next event is a major planning conference on Oct. 23. "Someday we're going to be the patients, so we need to change this now," said Francis. —staff report REGISTERED NURSE 11

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