This Labor Day, let’s celebrate thousands of nurses and hospital workers who recently fought for and won a union
Move over, mattress sales. National Nurses United members are bringing Labor Day back to its original intent, celebrating victories across the U.S. — to the benefit of patients nationwide.
We get it. The Labor Day holiday has sadly become more about blow-out mattress sales and backyard barbecues than the original intent of recognizing the contributions of workers and labor unions in the United States.
But nurses — the country’s most trusted profession — are on the move and making news! The 150,000 RNs and health care workers of National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the country, have racked up a long string of labor accomplishments and victories from just this past year to celebrate.
Since January 2018, thousands of nurses and hospital workers at nearly a dozen facilities from around the country, including California, Arizona, Illinois, Maine, and North Dakota have successfully unionized. These include victories by NNU affiliates, such as the Minnesota Nurses Association (North Dakota) and California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.
Why do nurses unionize? Because when hospital employers put their own profits first — they cut corners on human lives. Nurses know how important it is to stand together, to advocate for safe patient care conditions and safe working conditions. In our industry, nurses’ ability to have a collective voice and a say in our workplace is literally a matter of life and death.
So we are on the move for our patients and our colleagues — all across the country!
Some of the nurses who recently organized their hospitals with National Nurses United won their union elections in just a matter of weeks — including Chinese Hospital, in San Francisco, Calif.
“Joining the union means that we will now have a stronger voice in patient care decisions,” said Geraldine Leung, a registered nurse in the intensive care unit at Chinese Hospital. “We can be better advocates for our patients and make sure policies are implemented with our input.”
Three of the recently unionized facilities are located in so-called right-to-work states, where it is challenging for workers to unionize, and others are in areas of the country considered politically conservative and traditionally anti-union.
“Our victory is especially noteworthy because North Dakota has anti-union laws that discourage unionizing,” said Lauren Buol, an RN at CHI St. Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck, ND.
Buol points out that her state has had “right to work” laws on the books for 72 years — an entire lifetime of attacks on unions. But the nearly 300 St. Alexius nurses pulled off their victory anyway, becoming the largest bargaining unit (in ANY industry) to unionize in the state for decades.
How’s that for nurse power?
Here are a few more things nurses had to say about their recent union victories:
- “This is a great day for nurses as we will now have a real voice in making decision on how we care for our patients. Finally, our voices will be heard.” –Shelly Perks, RN at Methodist Hospital of Southern California in Arcadia, Calif.
- “I am so excited that we will now be able to advocate much more effectively for our patients.”–Fawn Slade, RN at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tucson, Ariz.
- “We are so proud to now be a part of this union with RNs and coworkers, and to have the power to stand up for ourselves, our patients and our community, just like they do.”
–Katelyn Peakall, a radiology technologist at Calais Regional Hospital in Calais, Maine
NNU has scored these wins in an era when both the Trump administration’s hostile National Labor Relations Board and the U.S. Supreme Court via the 2018 Janus vs. AFSCME decision are openly attacking not only efforts by workers to unionize, but also existing unions.
On top of that, nurses are leading the grassroots fight to win Medicare for All to guarantee that every patient receives health care in the United States. Nurses are on the front lines and know that our health care system is failing. As political candidates continue to debate how to improve health care in this country, nurses are taking action by organizing strong RN unions to advocate for patients and fighting for health care as a human right.
So this Labor Day, enjoy your barbecues and your 50 percent off furniture sales. But don’t forget to celebrate the nurses who stood strong and won union victories for patient care all across the U.S.!
National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 150,000 members nationwide. NNU plays a leadership role in safeguarding the health and safety of RNs and their patients and has won landmark legislation in the areas of staffing, safe patient handling, infectious disease, and workplace violence prevention. To learn more about organizing with NNU, click here.
