National Nurses United

8 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 C A L I F O R N I A N U R S E D uring the Schwarzenegger era, we have seen in California a sharp esca- lation in attacks on nurses and other public service workers—including teach- ers, firefighters, and working people—and on their collective voice through their unions, led by well-funded corporations and a governor who promotes their agenda. Increasingly, the assault parallels and reflects the gravest corporate offensive against labor nationally in decades. At CNA's biennial convention in September, one of the major issues on our agenda will be how to respond in the face of this campaign and the consequences for our members, for patients, and for the liv- ing conditions and security of all working people. The urgency of this moment prompts us to reevaluate our relationship with the overall labor movement and discuss whether we should or should not join the AFL-CIO, the national movement of work- ing people. The AFL-CIO is not a union but rather a federation of unions in which all unions working together pool their re- sources and collective power to fight for the standards and rights of working people in building a labor movement. Whether or not we will make the deci- sion to join a federation of unions to lend our voice to fighting back the attack on unions will be decided by CNA members. In the interim, we must take seriously the threat to our members, patients, and com- munities. Across the nation, the signs of the cri- sis are abundant. To name just a few: ■ A continual shredding of our health- care safety net with record numbers of the uninsured and underinsured, skyrocketing costs that are pricing more people than ever out of access to care, and deteriorating care standards. ■ Efforts to privatize Social Security and to sharply reduce or eliminate pensions that workers have earned. ■ The greatest income disparity be- tween everyday Americans and the wealthiest of our society since the Great Depression. ■ Presidential directives, legislation, and judicial rulings on behalf of corporate interests at the expense of patients, work- ers, and consumers. ■ A steady stripping away of the rights of unions and workers to collectively or- ganize. NATIONAL ASSAULT ON RN PRACTICE For registered nurses, the menace to patient protections and to RN standards and professional practice is growing. Healthcare corporations have a clear agen- da that includes: ■ Displacement of RNs and the erosion of RN practice through new technology. Tens of billions have already been spent on programs that deskill RN care, eliminate RN professional judgment, or remove nurs- es entirely from the bedside. ■ Replacement of RNs by LVNs and other staff. Every year legislatures, regula- tory agencies, and state nursing boards introduce new measures, sponsored by hos- pitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare corporate interests, to expand the role of other classifications. ■ Telenursing and other initiatives to outsource RN care. Hospitals, HMOs, and other corporations push to have telephone advice and other RN responsibilities per- formed by nurses in other states or coun- tries, regardless of the nurses' expertise or licensure. ■ An unfettered ability to move RNs across state lines. Hospital chains are seek- ing deregulation of state licensing standards to move RNs at will without proper valida- tion of competency. ■ And most troubling, changes in fed- eral law that would reclassify all RNs as "supervisors" and thus ineligible for repre- sentation and the ability to be patient advo- cates, sharply restricting the ability to organize to give RNs a collective voice to protect patients. On workplace standards, echoing the offensive in other sectors, hospitals from coast to coast have in recent months forced RNs to accept: ■ Fewer health benefits, including high- er premiums, co-pays, deductibles and elimination of family coverage. ■ Degraded retirement security, through cuts in pensions and retiree health. ■ Less choice in work schedule. ■ Reduced RN staffing, cuts in support staff, and a weaker voice in patient care delivery. THE GROWING CHALLENGE IN CALIFORNIA In California, CNA and our RN members have won unprecedented gains. But Cali- fornia is not an island. Every major hospi- tal chain in California operates in other states, and wants to degrade protections and standards for RNs and patients here to match their other hospitals. California hospitals are determined to reverse the gains made by California RNs. The hospital corporations and their politi- cal allies, for example, regularly point out that California remains the only state with an RN-to-patient ratio law. Despite our gains here and the suc- cess RNs have achieved in challenging the attack on nurses and patients by Arnold Schwarzenegger on behalf of his corporate donors, in California we, too, face the effects of this corporate-govern- ment national threat. ■ An ongoing effort to overturn the RN staffing ratio law ■ Plans to privatize or eliminate pen- sions and Social Security insurance. ■ Proposals by employers to reduce retirement plans and benefits. ■ An attack on the right of RNs to Rose Ann DeMoro CNA Executive Director Debating Our Future What's next for the labor movement? By Rose Ann DeMoro

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