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"The promise of the future has arrived," said Karen Higgins, an RN from Massachusetts, and one of three newly elected presidents of the NNU, "with all the unlimited potential, creativity, vision, and power represented by the delegates in the room, and the 150,000 members of the founding organizations."
NNU unites three of the most active, progressive organizations in the U.S.--and the major voices of unionized nurses--in the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, United American Nurses, and Massachusetts Nurses Association.
"We are entering a new era of nursing power and influence, with RNs united from coast-to-coast who are committed to fighting for safer care, better practice conditions for nurses, and real health reform that is in the best interests of our patients and communities," Piknick said.
Under the NNU constitution, MNA was awarded one of three co-presidential seats, as well as a vice presidential seat on the organization's governing executive counsel. The MNA board of directors selected Higgins and Piknick for the two seats, and they were both endorsed by the MNA membership at the organization's annual business meeting in October.
"The nurses of Massachusetts should be very proud of the fact that our organization, and two of our most respected leaders, will be playing such a prominent role in this new RN movement," said Donna Kelly-Williams, president of the MNA. "Once again, the state of Massachusetts is leading a revolution, this one for health care justice."
Higgins, a critical care nurse at Boston Medical Center for more than thirty years served two terms as President of the MNA from 2001- 2005 leading the organization through one of its most successful periods following its disaffiliation from the American Nurses Association in 2001. A respected nurse, and champion of patient safety, Higgins has been a long-time leader of the organization's statewide campaign for safe care, and for the last four years has served as the co-chair of the Coalition to Protect Massachusetts Patients, an alliance of more than 130 health care, labor and consumer advocacy organizations working to improve the safety of hospital care through passage of legislation to set safe limits on nurses' patient assignments. She also chaired the MNA's Nursing Shortage Task Force and was instrumental in the formation of the MNA's Workplace Violence and Prevention Task Force, an effort that has placed MNA at the forefront of efforts to combat an epidemic of violence against nurses, who are assaulted on the job more than police officers and prison guards.
The MNA left the ANA in 2001, because the organization failed to adequately represent the interests of the nation's front line nurses. Immediately following the vote to disaffiliate, Higgins offered a resolution calling for the creation a powerful national nurses' union that would represent the interest of front line nurses and the patients they care for. The resolution was unanimously endorsed by the MNA membership and this year, with the formation of NNU, Higgins stated "we have realized our dream for a national voice with national power."
Piknick, a nurse at Cape Cod Hospital for more than 30 years, also served two consecutive terms as president of MNA from 2005 - 2009, where she led the organization through the process of negotiating the agreement that led to the founding of NNU. A nurse who has suffered from a debilitating back injury, Piknick has become a leading advocate for the occupational health and safety of nurses, focusing on issues related to safe patient handling to prevent injuries to nurses. Nursing is one of the most dangerous occupations, with nurses among those suffering the highest rates of back and shoulder injuries. Piknick has worked on the state and national level to promote legislation and safety regulations to protect nurses in the workplace. She has also led the organization's ongoing efforts to pass safe staffing legislation.
In adopting a constitution and electing national officers, the NNU plans to quickly move forward on an active campaign to:
To help announce the arrival of NNU, delegates to the founding convention, including Higgins and Piknick, rallied and picketed outside the Phoenix offices of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association Tuesday. They emphasized that nurses will step up efforts to challenge hospital industry attacks on nurses' rights, economic and workplace standards, patient care conditions, opposition to ratios and other critical legislation, and will work to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to enhance the ability of nurses and other working people to form unions.
Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest professional health care organization and the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
-- Advance the interests of direct care nurses and patients across the U.S. -- Organize all direct care RNs "into a single organization capable of exercising influence over the healthcare industry, governments, and employers." -- Promote effective collective bargaining representation to all NNU affiliates to advance the economic and professional interests of all direct care RNs. -- Expand the voice of direct care RNs and patients in public policy, including the enactment of safe nurse-to-patient ratios and patient advocacy rights in Congress and every state. -- Win "healthcare justice, accessible, quality healthcare for all, as a human right."
SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association
