National Nurses United

in particular dangerous new technology programs that threaten to deskill the profession and place arbitrary restrictions on the effective exercise of RN professional judgment in clinical prac- tice. This and other resolutions will be discussed in workshops held during the convention. Other resolutions under consideration include: ■ Opposition to the privatization of Social Security and a return to secure, defined benefit pension plans. ■ Support for critical labor law reform, including the Employee Free Choice Act (S 842 and HR 1696) to give work- ers the same rights to organize without restriction in the work- place that Americans enjoy outside the workplace. ■ Support for public campaign financing reform to end the corrupting corporate influence of public policy. ■ Support for changes in tax and budget policies to assure that corporations and wealthy individuals pay their fair share. ■ Opposition to the war in Iraq, and support for a redirec- tion of national budget priorities from the war (now costing an estimated $5 billion each month) for healthcare, education and other social needs. ■ Opposition to trade policies that promote the outsourcing of healthcare and other jobs and services. ■ Support for an ethical code of practice for the international recruitment of nurses. ■ Support for increased funding of nursing education pro- grams. Charles Idelson is director of communications for the California Nurses Association. C A L I F O R N I A N U R S E S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 17 Did you know that corporations are push- ing to have international trade agreements trump all regulations made by nations, states, or local governments—such as California's safe RN staffing ratios? Or how changes in our tax structure and the cost of the Iraq war have starved our coun- try's health infrastructure? Or that hospitals are still fighting at the federal level to get all registered nurses classified as supervisors so that they cannot unionize or unite to improve their practice? Attendees of the 2005 House of Delegates convention will have a chance to learn about, debate, and find out how to take action on these issues in special continuing education sessions Sept. 21 and 22. The courses are an opportunity for RN leaders to get up to speed on the political, social, and economic land- scape in which they currently practice, and share their new knowledge with coworkers back at their workplaces. Instructors will be covering everything from "How to Keep Nursing Human in a Technology Age" to the "Corporate Globalization of Healthcare: Trading RN Labor and Public Control of Health." —Staff report One of them is a nurse who was labeled a possible terrorist because she dressed in hospital scrubs and tried to talk to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a fundraiser about his stance against minimum RN staffing standards. One of them is a longtime peace activist, singer, and songwriter who has laud- ed nurses in song and worked with military nurses. And one is a group of California RNs who journeyed halfway around the world to give medical care to survivors of the deadly Asian tsunami. They are all among the dozen or so people and groups who will be recognized at the 2005 House of Delegates convention by CNA for their outstanding work on behalf of the organization, patients, and nurses everywhere. "These are people who really stood out these past couple years, whether they helped CNA in challenging Arnold's policies or calling the public's attention to our need for a single-payer universal healthcare sys- tem," said Rose Ann DeMoro, CNA executive director. "We just want to let them know that nurses appreciate everything they've done." The following people or groups will be recognized: Donald Barlett and James Steele, authors of Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became Big Business & Bad Medicine; Warren Beatty, director, actor, and political activist; California Nurses Foundation mentor program; Jamie Court, consumer activist and president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights; Kelly Di Giacomo, RN and CNA board member; Aida Eriksson, Ann Mackenzie, Theckla Perera, Jane Quist, Mary Reynolds, and Jude Zyskowski, the RNs who gave care in Sri Lanka; Robert Greenwald, documentary film director; Barbara Lee, U.S. Congresswoman; Country Joe McDonald; Abbie Stewart, RN and outgoing board member for lifetime achieve- ment; Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO; all outgoing CNA board members for their leadership; and California's teachers and firefighters, for their help in standing up to Schwarzenegger. —Staff report UN-CONVENTIONAL PEOPLE LEARNING THE CORPORATIONS' NEW TRICKS

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