Year of the Nurse
2019 wins set the stage for a 2020 shaped by nurses’ values
The United States is a lot like the health care industry: Billionaires are at the top, cutting corners on working people to boost profits. But who takes on a billion-dollar industry every single day and wins? Nurses.
The World Health Organization has declared 2020 the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife” and, truly, this is our time.
As 2019 draws to a close, let’s celebrate our victories as we make 2020 the year of nurses’ values.
Growing our numbers
In 2019, over 2,000 nurses in five states and Puerto Rico joined NNU affiliates. A warm welcome to RNs at El Paso’s Hospitals of Providence East, San Francisco’s Chinese Hospital, Chicago’s UChicago Medicine Ingalls and Community First Medical Center, Florida and Puerto Rico’s VA Sunshine Health Network (all with CNA/NNOC), and Bismarck’s CHI St. Alexius (with Minnesota Nurses Association). And a shout out to Johns Hopkins Hospital RNs, in their courageous fight to join NNU!
Striking for safe patient care
This fall, fearless nurses at Tenet hospitals in California, Arizona, and Florida, as well as RNs at the University of Chicago Medical Center
(UCMC), held one-day strikes, urging management to invest in staffing. The Arizona strikes were the first ever held by RNs in that state, and the Florida strikes marked a first for hospital-based Florida RNs.
Bargaining strong contracts
This was a big year for 2,200 nurses at the University of Chicago Medical Center, who won a strong four-year agreement, and for 4,000 nurses at eight Tenet facilities in California, who won a three-and-a-half-year master agreement. All on the heels of their strikes!
Thousands of other NNU members won great contracts this year, including 6,000 nurses in MNA’s Twin Cities metro bargain-ing units, and 1,800 RNs in Duluth, Minn. and Superior, Wis. Increased activism also led to strong contract settlements at public-sector hospitals throughout California, and RNs at HCA-affiliated Good Samaritan Hospital and Regional Medical Center in San Jose, Calif. reached a new agreement that supports optimal patient care.
Fighting for patient equity in D.C.
This year, the D.C. Nurses Association (DCNA) continued its fight to ensure residents east of the river have the same access to full health care services afforded to all residents of D.C. This means returning OB/GYN and other critical services to D.C.’s United Medical Center and ensuring the area has a trauma center. DCNA nurses always stand strong for their patients!
Historic win for workplace violence protections
Thanks to nurse advocacy, in 2019, our health care workplace violence prevention bill, H.R. 1309, took a huge step forward, passing the House of Representatives with bipartisan support.
The bill is modeled after groundbreaking protections won by CNA, mandating that Calif. health care employers have a comprehensive workplace violence prevention plan in place. This year, RNs at University of California medical centers stood up to hold their employers account-able for following the law, with rallies at several UC facilities.
The next step will be getting the federal bill through the Senate. Text “safety” to 69866 to connect with your senator.
Strengthening solidarity, worldwide
In September, NNU’s worldwide organization, Global Nurses United, brought together nurses from 26 countries in San Francisco for an unprecedented gathering with educational sessions, panel discussion, and a march through the city streets. Global solidarity between nurses is a powerful force for change.
Helping in the heart of disaster
Volunteers with NNU’s disaster relief project, the Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN), travel into the heart of disaster, where and when they’re needed most. In 2019, RNRN deployed nurses to border shelters in Arizona and Texas to care for asylum-seeking families, to Florida and the Bahamas to help survivors of Hurricane Dorian, and to Guatemala to care for patients without adequate health care. RNRN volunteers are truly heroes.
Training RN leaders across the country
This year, we held 30 regional leadership workshops attended by over 1,000 nurse leaders across the country. The workshops focused on building a stronger, more inclusive, more effective union in our workplaces.
Advancing Medicare for All
In 2019, NNU took the national, grassroots Medicare for All movement to the next level, holding community organizing events, generating hundreds of canvasses, and driving tens of thousands of calls into Congress. All that work paid off because we saw four historic Medicare for All House hearings this year — with our president Jean Ross, RN testifying at the most recent one!
Moving forward
All of these incredible wins in 2019 remind us of our power heading into an election year. We know billionaires are trying to buy this election, and a lot is at stake — including protecting our right to organize and standing up to the attacks on our profession and our patients’ lives.
But who takes on billionaires and wins? We do. I look forward to fighting by your side in 2020 and beyond to build a world of nurses’ values.
