Registered Nurse magazine not only covers the activities of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee, but also strives to produce hard-hitting news features and thoughtful analyses about nursing and the real ills plaguing the U.S. healthcare system.

You’ll find true stories from the front lines of care given by the nation’s 2.5 million registered nurses, as well as articles about nursing practice, public health, healthcare policy, and the healthcare industry. Through our reporting, we hope to inspire a movement toward a humane and just healthcare system for all. The magazine is published 10 times per year by CNA/NNOC, with combined issues in summer and winter.

FEATURES

12 TheNewThreat to RNs
Learn about SEIU International's plan to dominate RN representation and why that's dangerous for nurses and their patients.

14 SEIU’s Cholesterol Con
A union that claims to represent health workers gets caught in bed with the pharmaceutical industry.

18 Shock to the System
Retiree Juanita Anderson suffers froma rare disease that often sends her to the hospital. She’s one of the lucky Americans who has retiree healthcare, but lives in fear, knowing that the benefits can change at any time. By LuciaHwang

22 AMusical Score
Musician, nurse, and CNA/NNOC boardmember Kathryn Donahue helped bring the union behind Northern California’s remote Redwood Curtain. By Erika Larson

DEPARTMENTS
4 News Briefs
UC RNs fight off takeaways, win newcontract; Pennsylvania nurses to hold first post-affiliationHouse of Delegates; Sutter RNs wage third strike to spur negotiations; Fremont-Rideout nurses face 10-day lockout after third strike;Why we need the Employee Free Choice Act now; RNs Educate at the Cook CountyHealth Fair, Texas RNs claim a historic victory, Protest against Orange County insurer wins sarcoma treatment for 17-year-old; Chicago nurses win independent governance of public health agency, but hard work remains.

11 Keeping Ohio in the 21st Century
Note to the Service Employees International Union: nurses and women are not objects of trade. By Rose Ann DeMoro

on the cover: SEIU International's plan to represent the country's RNs is toxic to the profession and to patients. Image by James Steidl/Fotolia.com.

Download Registered Nurse magazine, April 2008

PDF format, 4.1MB, 24Pages.

REGISTERED NURSE,™ (ISSN 1932-8966) The Journal of Patient Advocacy, April 2008 Volume 104/3 is published by  California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, 2000 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA 94612-2908.

It provides news of organizational activities and reports on developments of concern to all registered nurses across the nation. It also carries general coverage and commentary on matters of nursing practice, community and public health, and healthcare policy. It is published monthly except for combined issues in January and February, and July and August.

Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, California. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Registered Nurse,™ 2000 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA 94612-2908.

LETTER FROM THE COUNCIL OF PRESIDENTS:

It’s been a trying month.We’re sorry to report that our very real and legitimate dispute with the Service Employees International Union, SEIU, has turned into an immature, ugly, and disgraceful bullying session on their part. For a full explanation of what’s happening, check out the feature article on SEIU in this issue.

But the short story is that CNA/NNOC and Andy Stern, president of SEIU, hold two very different, competing visions for the future of labor unions and nursing. CNA/NNOC believes that our registered nurse members and patients fundamentally have different interests than the healthcare corporations that, under our current system, prioritize profits over patients. As a result,we do not partner or make private dealswith them, and instead focus on organizing nurses, patients, and the public to build power for what wewant and need. In contrast, SEIU under Stern has shown that it believes teaming up with employers is the only way for its union to survive and thrive.

Most recently, in Ohio, SEIU made an arrangement with Catholic Healthcare Partners, which owns nine hospitals, to represent 8,000 workers, but on the employer’s terms. The employer petitioned for the election, not the employees.We have a name for this kind of union: a company union. Theywere supposedly outlawed in 1935, but SEIU is reviving them andmaking them a cornerstone of its future organizing strategy. CNA/NNOC went to Ohio to educate the workers about this sham election, and CHP ended up calling off the election. As payback, SEIU has now come to California with the intent of taking over RN representation in the state. If that happens, we can say good-bye to high nursing practice standards, patient advocacy, ratios, single-payer, and good salaries and benefits.

But we can assure you that we are only more determined than ever to not only stand our ground, but further expose the ways in which SEIU has sold out its members and transform this threat into an opportunity to grow even stronger. For example, many RNs now in SEIU have approached us, wanting to defect fromthis brand of company union, and we are helping them.

It’s not all bad news.We wanted to highlight a couple of victories this pastmonth aswell.Wemade history by unionizing the first-ever private sector hospital in Texas! We’ll have more details in the next issue because we wanted to devote some proper coverage to this momentous event. Our University of California RNs also approved a great new contract, and our RNs in Chicago were able after nearly a year of activism to transfer control of the decimated county health system to an independent trusteeship where it’ll have a better chance of recovering than under the current political patronage system.

Please take some time to read the story about our fight against SEIU to better understand what’s at stake. The future of nursing and our ability to fully and freely advocate for our patients depends on it.

Deborah Burger, RN | Geri Jenkins, RN
MalindaMarkowitz, RN | Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, RN
CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents

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