National Nurses United

M A R C H | A P R I L 2 0 1 6 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 13 WRAP-UP REPORT California CALIFORNIA BOARD OF REGISTERED NURSING The state's registered nurses celebrated in June the reelection of a nurse and patient advocate, Michael Jackson, RN, as president of the Cali- fornia Board of Registered Nursing and the addition in February of another patient advo- cate, former county supervisor and California Nurses Association government relations director Donna Gerber, to the BRN as well. With this recent appointment, the BRN now has a total of four board members who are or have been affiliated with CNA. GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPITAL AND REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER A total of 82 registered nurses working at Good Samaritan Hospital and Regional Medical Center, both HCA-affiliated facili- ties in San Jose, in May successfully walked into a bargaining session and demanded that their employers voluntarily recognize them as part of their hospitals' current RN bargaining units and include them under the existing contract. The hospitals complied, and now the nurses are full members of Cali- fornia Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee with all the rights and benefits of the contract that their colleagues currently have with HCA. Congratulations to these brave nurses! District of Columbia The Metro Washington Council of the AFL- CIO in March awarded National Nurses Unit- ed members in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area the "Golden Picket" award, noting that the organization has "consistently made it a point to turn out members and staff at Street Heat events for years, and is equally consistent in organizing creative, militant, and effective street actions in support of organizing and contract campaigns, going the 'extra mile' to involve the Metro Council, affili- ates, and community and religious allies." International In May, the Queensland Nurses' Union (QNU) in Australia was successful in pres- suring Parliament to pass a historic health initiative, the Hospital and Health Boards (Safe Nurse-To-Patient and Midwife-To- Patient Ratios) Amendment Bill 2015, making it mandatory starting July 1, 2016 for public hospitals to provide safe nurse and midwife-to-patient staffing ratios. Previously, there were no laws regulating how many patients could safely be assigned to a single nurse or midwife. For every patient added to a nurse's workload, there is a 7 percent increase in the likelihood of the patient's death. "Queensland has tonight become only the fourth government in the world to legis- late historic nurse-to-patient ratios," said Beth Mohle, RN and secretary of QNU. "This world-leading Queensland legislation will save lives that need not be lost. Interna- tional evidence concludes patient mortality rates and outcomes are directly linked to nurse numbers and the level of care each patient receives." Mohle noted that QNU will work with Queensland Health for a smooth transition and that "effective implementation of this legislation will be a marathon effort, not a sprint." The move to improve patient safety and better protect Queenslanders in every elec- torate was supported by all parties and inde- pendent members of Parliament except the Liberal National Party. Nurse ratios legislation was first adopted in the Australian state of Victoria in 2000 and again reaffirmed in October 2015. In the United States, California became the first state to adopt safe staffing ratio regula- tions in 2004 after a 13-year campaign by the California Nurses Association. Texas In the first-ever election in Texas not governed by an organizing agreement, nurs- es at Bayview Behavioral Hospital, a campus of Corpus Christi Medical Center, voted to join National Nurses Organizing Commit- tee-Texas. The nurses fought hard in this small unit for union recognition, so congrat- ulations to them on their victory. —Staff report From top left clock- wise: Texas RNs at Bayview Behavioral Hospital in Corpus Christi successfully unionize; Washington, D.C. metro area NNU RNs win local AFL-CIO's Golden Picket award; RNs at HCA-affiliated facilities in San Jose, Calif. demanded and won voluntary recogni- tion to join their union- ized RN colleagues.

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