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fession that allowed me to be involved with people every day, and it was certainly very challenging in terms of being able to care about people when they're sick," he says. "It's kind of how sometimes you do something and you know that it feels good, and you know that it feels right, and you like the connection you make with people. I like knowing that what I do makes a difference in people's lives." As a young RN, he admits he was "naïve" about unions. At his first job at a nonunion hospital, the hospital actually raised his wage from $6.50 per hour to $8.50 and for his nurse colleagues in order to pre- vent a union from forming. Later, he relocated to St. Mary's where unionism among the nurses was so much stronger and accepted that the hospital actually broached the subject first during his interview. After he joined the negotiating team in 1988, Fitzpatrick realized he was well trained as a nurse, but had much to learn from mentors about shaping the wider world of nursing and healthcare. He was joining a race against corporate and managerial monopolization. To this day, and every day, he feels the effects of a healthcare sys- RN board member a l l e n f i t z pat r i c k feels good knowing he helps people, at work and with his union. b y b o n n i e h o A llen fitzpatricks' long career as a union activist all started by decid- ing to stand at the back of a room. It was 1988, and he had been working six years at St. Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco, where the nurses were in contract negotiations. He and a friend told themselves they would stand at the back during a union meeting just to see what would happen. "Well, I ended up becoming a member of a team negotiating a contract for five hospitals with 2,500 nurses," said Fitzpatrick. "We eventually went on strike for a month. And my friend, who said she wasn't going to say anything, she ended up going on national TV. It's been 18 years and both of us have been real union activists since then. So much for standing at the back of the room." CNA/NNOC has a way of doing that to people. Since that time, Fitzpatrick has helped negotiate eight more contracts, fought for safe RN-to-patient staffing ratios for California, and worked hard on reorienting the organization to meet the needs of staff bedside nurses. He's held a seat on the board of direc- tors since 1997. Even though he admits it can be draining to not only care for patients, but also for the interests of nurses, he says he does it because of a gut feeling that it's the right fight. "Once I got involved, I just found a real passion for it," said Fitz- patrick. "I liked doing it, I believed in it, and I was on the right side. I enjoy advocating for my patients and the nurses I work with. I like taking on management where there's an issue that I don't believe they're right." As a young man, Fitzpatrick was uncertain about what career to pursue. His mother, a registered nurse, suggested he work as an orderly at a nearby hospital in St. Louis, Mo. and the job of caring for the sick appealed to him. After finishing his biology degree from the University of California at Davis in 1975, he returned again to hospital work. He went on to nursing school at Fresno State University, gradu- ating as one of eight men in a class of 32. Fewer men were in nursing then, but he did not nor does he think much about it. At times, people have asked him why he did not choose to become a doctor. "What I liked about [nursing] was it was a helping and caring pro- 22 R E G I S T E R E D N U R S E W W W . C A L N U R S E S . O R G O C T O B E R 2 0 0 6 Picking the Rig