National Nurses United

Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. The RNs' salaries are extremely low, and simple rights to which long-organized CNA RNs are accustomed, such as being able to bring concerns to a hospital professional practice committee, do not exist. On her first trips to Phoenix, she was shocked by how fear- ful and dominated the Arizona nurses were by the hospital admin- istration. "We'd be talking to nurses on the street in front of the hospital, not even in the hospital, and they're looking behind them to see if their manager spots them," says Stewart. "When we were able to get access to a conference room, many of the nurses were too fearful to come down." That's no way to live and work, thinks Stewart. "I feel very passionate about getting these nurses good representation." Lucia Hwang is editor of California Nurse. over an hour talking with a new acquaintance about the gover- nor's attempts to eliminate the Board of Registered Nursing, delay ratios, and other bad decisions for patients, students, workers, and our communities. Stewart was no stranger to picket lines. She grew up in Berkeley, CA in a union family. Her father was a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and her mother was an organizer and secretary-treasurer of the Alameda County chapter of the AFL-CIO. After working a few years as a flight attendant, Stewart decid- ed she wanted to acquire a skill and a body of knowledge. At first she wasn't sure she could excel at the science classes that came with studying nursing, but two Canadian friends in nursing moti- vated her to try. She underestimated her science prowess; she made A's in biology and chemistry, eventually graduating from nursing school in 1980. She soon ended up at Kaiser Permanente in San Rafael as an ICU RN, then moved to advice nursing at Kaiser Santa Rosa in 1991, where she has stayed until retiring last September. Though she was a proud union member, Stewart says she didn't really become active until the turmoil surrounding CNA's 1992 staff nurse revolt came to a head. She remembers sitting on her couch two days before Christmas, reading a letter that CNA's then executive director and president had mailed out explaining the reasons for firing more than a dozen key staff—including Rose Ann DeMoro, who at the time was head of CNA's Economic and General Welfare division. Stewart immediately suspected something was very wrong, and that the dispute was tied to different visions of which direc- tion CNA should be heading. She started calling everybody she knew, and quickly got involved in letter writing and campaigning for a staff nurse slate in the next election. The slate was successful, and the first step in developing the organization CNA is today. Stewart joined the board in 1995. Since then, she has witnessed many of CNA's sem- inal achievements: rewriting CNA's bylaws to prevent man- agers and supervisors from serving on the board of direc- tors, disaffiliating from the American Nurses Association, standing up to Kaiser's pro- posed massive contract take- aways in 1996 and 1997, acquiring its own office space, the safe staffing bill in 1999, and finally this latest round of activism in protecting ratios and the BRN from Schwarzenegger's axe. "The overarching theme for CNA is that with collective action, we can achieve our goals," said Stewart in reflection on her time at CNA. "Everything we've achieved is by way of internal organ- izing, educating our coworkers about issues and their power." Though she's stepping down from the board because she believes a working nurse should help steer the organization, she is still helping organize RNs. Late last month, she traveled again to Phoenix in the continued effort to organize 1,200 RNs at St. 18 M A Y 2 0 0 5 C A L I F O R N I A N U R S E Profile Name: Abbie Stewart Facility: formerly Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa Unit: Advice nursing Nursing for: 24 years, now retired On CNA board since: 1995 Sign: Libra Pet nursing peeve: When nurses are not involved in CNA and remain silent Favorite work snack: Doesn't snack Last work accomplishment: Helping develop a Quality Forum, a responsible reporting system for errors, at Kaiser Santa Rosa Color of favorite scrubs: Hasn't worn scrubs since 1990 Favorite hobby: Organizing Favorite book: When Corporations Rule the World, by David C. Korten Special talent unrelated to nursing: Finishing crossword puzzles and word games, in pen "It's going to be a one-on-one relationship that stimulates trust and respect for each other. When it comes time to get them involved, they are likely to because of that relationship."

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