National Nurses United
Founded | 2009 |
---|---|
Headquarters | Oakland, California |
Location |
|
Members | 150,000[1] |
Key people | Bonnie Castillo (Executive Director) Deborah Burger, Zenei Cortez, Jean Ross (Presidents) |
Affiliations | AFL-CIO |
Website | www |
National Nurses United (NNU) is the largest organization of registered nurses in the United States.[2][3] The NNU, with more than 175,000 members across the country,[4] is the most far-reaching union and professional association of registered nurses in the U.S. Founded in 2009 through the merging of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, the United American Nurses, and the , the NNU focuses on amplifying the voice of direct care RNs and patients in national policy. The union's policy positions include the enactment of safe nurse-to-patient ratios, patient advocacy rights at the Executive and State level, and legislation for single-payer health care to secure "quality healthcare for all, as a human right."[5] The organization's goal is to "organize all direct care RNs into a single organization capable of exercising influence over the healthcare industry, governments, and employers."[5]
Leadership[]
The Executive Director of the national organization, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, is labor leader Bonnie Castillo, who also heads the 90,000-member California Nurses Association.[6] The former Executive Director is RoseAnn DeMoro, who serves as National Vice President and Executive Board Member of the AFL-CIO.
Activities[]
Single-payer health care[]
The organization backs a Medicare for All single-payer healthcare plan for the United States.[7]
To support a single-payer system, NNU leadership mobilized large-scale demonstrations demanding single-payer healthcare be included in the platform at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.[7]
Occupy Wall Street[]
National Nurses United has held numerous protests, including one in front of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and another on Wall Street,[3] to protest privatization and profiteering in the health care industry.
NNU supports a tax on financial transactions, which the organization says could raise at least $350 billion a year.[8]
Support for Bernie Sanders[]
In The New York Times on January 28, 2016, Nicholas Confessore reported, "According to Federal Election Commission records [NNU's] 'super PAC' has spent close to $1 million on ads and other support for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.[9] The NNU spending was classified as "Expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate."[10]
See also[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Nurses United. |
- California Nurses Association
References[]
- ^ "National Nurses United: About". Retrieved 14 February 2019.
- ^ "Growing National Nurses United union steps up strikes in aggressive new strategy".
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Nurses Rally for Health Care Funding". 7 June 2011.
- ^ "National Nurses United". Common Dreams. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "National Nurses United".
- ^ "Nation Conversations: Rose Ann DeMoro on Demanding a Decent Standard of Living For All Americans - The Nation". 21 June 2011.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Peter, Nicholas (31 May 2016). "Nurses Seek Democratic Showdown". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
- ^ "Nurses, Unions Propose Wall Street Tax". VOA.
- ^ "Bernie Sanders Tops His Rivals in Use of Outside Money". The New York Times. 28 January 2016.
- ^ "New York Times Gets it Wrong: Bernie Sanders Not "Top Beneficiary of Outside Money"". The Intercept. 29 January 2016.
External links[]
- National Nurses United
- Nursing organizations in the United States
- 2009 establishments in the United States
- Trade unions established in 2009
- AFL–CIO