SEIU, CNA/NNOC ANNOUNCE MAJOR ACCORD
A New SEIU-CNA/NNOC Agreement Will Strengthen Our Voice in California
Download flyer about SEIU-CNA AgreementSEIU and CNA/NNOC have agreed to set aside their differences and work together nationwide to make sure all registered nurses and all healthcare workers have a strong union voice.
Our new national agreement will give many nurses and healthcare workers a chance to form a union they wouldn’t otherwise have, while enabling the SEIU Nurse Alliance to more effectively build on our 20-year history of advocating for nurses and patients in California. Here’s how:
• Both unions will refrain from “raiding” the existing members of the other's organization, interfering in the other's internal affairs, or supporting other organizations that engage in such activities.
• SEIU-represented RNs will continue to strengthen our union voice and advocate for higher nursing and patient care standards without having to waste energy and resources on protecting members from raids. In California, we’ll have a new ally in our continuing efforts to fight for patient advocacy in Sacramento.
• The two unions will work together to organize health care workers in some of the nation’s largest hospital systems, with CNA/NNOC as the union for RNs and SEIU as the union for all other hospital workers, except where otherwise mutually agreed.
• All outstanding issues between SEIU and CNA/NNOC are resolved, including conflicts in Nevada, Ohio, and the rest of the nation. In Florida, SEIU and CNA/NNOC will create a vehicle for joint organizing and representation of registered nurses.
• SEIU nurses will participate in the new national RN organization currently being established by CNA/NNOC, UAN, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association – which will create a united voice for registered nurses in legislative and policy issues.
Through this agreement, we achieved the goals laid out by the national Nurse Alliance of SEIU – to protect and preserve our voice as SEIU nurses, to unite all nurse organizations, and most of all, to give all unorganized RNs and healthcare workers a chance to join together in a union. Instead of focusing on the issues that divide us, SEIU and CNA/NNOC will work together around a common mission to make the health care system work better for everyone.
Increased union representation in healthcare, say both unions, will play a huge role in strengthening the ability of nurses and other employees to fight for improved patient care standards, promote economic recovery through improved economic standards, and sharply assist efforts to enact genuine healthcare reform nationally and in state capitols across the country.
”The marks the beginning of a new future for nurses and other healthcare workers and their patients throughout this nation,” said Andy Stern, president of SEIU. “ We are lining up to make sweeping changes to this country’s broken healthcare system, and as we wait for the starting gun it is imperative that we put the past behind us and move forward by putting all healthcare workers in the strongest possible position to define reform, move legislation and make the new healthcare system operational. Is this accord surprising? Perhaps, but those who recognize our shared value of making sure registered nurses and other healthcare workers have not only a say but a critical role in helping reshape a failed system into something that actually helps people know that this is the right step to help us meet the challenge and the call of this moment.”
"This is an exciting new day for nurses and patients across the nation," said CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro. "This agreement provides a huge spark for the emergence of a more powerful, unified national movement that is needed to more effectively challenge healthcare industry layoffs and attacks on RN economic and professional standards and patient care conditions. It will also strengthen the ability of all direct care RNs to fight for real healthcare reform and advocate for improved patient care conditions and stronger patient safety legislation from coast to coast."