OAKLAND, CA – In a move to unite the power and influence of major U.S. nursing unions, the United American Nurses, California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association are joining together to form a new, 150,000-member association.
The new organization will be called the United American Nurses-National Nurses Organizing Committee, UAN-NNOC, and will be affiliated with the AFL-CIO.
"Under the principle that RNs should be represented by an RN union," the three unions declared in a joint statement, "we resolve to create a new union of staff nurse-led organizations named UAN-NNOC."
The goals of the new organization include:
- Build an RN movement in order to defend and advance the interests of direct care nurses across the country;
- Organize all non-union direct care RNs (a substantial majority of the budget shall be dedicated to new organizing);
- Provide a powerful national voice for RN rights, safe RN practice, including RN-to-patient staffing ratios under the principle that safe staffing saves lives, and healthcare justice;
- Provide a vehicle for solidarity with sister nurse and allied organizations around the world;
- Create a national Taft-Hartley pension for union RNs.
