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California Nurses Association (CNA)

Book Review

  • Labor’s “civil wars” ending inconclusively

    The “civil war” that Steve Early mentions in his new book is not about the class war between labor and capital, nor any war between a conservative right and a radical left in unions. It is the war that split labor’s progressive left (however you define it), a conflict that was triggered by the swift celebrity rise of Andy Stern as the new labor leader, touted, for a time, as the champion of a newly invigorated and enlightened union movement.

UDR Story

  • Melancholy reflections on the SEIU

    Months before it was denounced by John Wilhelm as a dangerous threat, and Andy Stern became persona non grata inside the AFL-CIO, the SEIU was losing esteem in the progressive public outside the labor movement. Beginning in 2008 when he first threatened to destroy Sal Rosselli by taking over the 150,000-member United Healthcare Workers local, Stern faced a mounting torrent of protest from the pro-union, civil liberties, academic community in California and around the country. First came a concerned letter from a hundred writers and educators imploring him to back off.

  • New national union aims to unite nurses

    Delegates from three major unions of registered nurses, meeting in Phoenix on December 7, merged their forces into a new national organization, the National Nurses United. The three founding affiliates --- the California Nurses Association, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, and the United American Nurses --- report a combined membership of 150,000. To thunderous applause from some 150 delegates, one of the three elected co-presidents proclaimed that this creation of the "largest union of direct care nurses is about a century overdue."

  • Nurses in Miami act for safety and patient care: A letter from Florida

    A group of nurses represented by the SEIU in Miami, concerned over the union's inaction around serious issues affecting its members, are taking the initiative on their own to fight for their patients' care and safety. For too long, these nurses have seen too many compromises made by a local union so interested in a partnership with hospital administrators that it ignores the needs of the nurses on the floor.

  • A flawed referendum for Massachusetts nurses

    Registered nurses voted on whether or not to merge their Massachusetts Nurses Association into a new union along with the California Nurses Association and the United American Nurses. The process was a disappointing beginning in the quest for what so many nurses want: one strong democratic union to represent nurses who are now scattered and divided among a bewildering array of competing unions. Of the MNA's 23,000 members only some 500 were able to vote in the union's referendum.

  • Reflections on the SEIU Convention in Puerto Rico

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    At the June convention of the Service Employees International Union, climaxing President Andy Stern's twelve years in office, a big majority of the 1,900 convention delegates endorsed his program and endowed him with increased power amounting to presidential authoritarianism couched in democratic verbiage.

  • SHORTS: photocopying hiring hall records, longshore reform victory, peace pipe for SEIU and CNA? and more.

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    Some stories we publish in Union Democracy Review are too short for a feature, but too important to leave out. Each issue we publish these "shorts." This issue's collection give a sense of how valuable these pieces can be.
    -- website coordinator

  • Four state nurses associations quit AFL-CIO union

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    In December, nurses associations in four states, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington, withdrew from the United American Nurses, the national AFL-CIO union of registered nurses.

  • Three major nurses unions unite in AFL-CIO

    United American Nurses, the California Nurses Association, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association --- three big unions of registered nurses that had been independent and somewhat in competition ---- joined forces in February to form one new union that claims to represent 150,000 members. The new union, called the United American Nurses-National Nurses Organizing Committee, will be part of the labor movement as an AFL-CIO affiliate.

  • Nurses now for sale, barter and trade

    By combining into a new 150,000-member national union affiliated with the AFL-CIO, the California Nurses Association, the United American Nurses, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association seemed to have taken a giant step toward creating the kind of united force so many nurse unionists are hoping for. Meanwhile, the move has triggered a swift and dizzying realignment among the many unions that aspire to represent registered nurses. Most notable and unexpected is the sudden love affair between top officials of the Service Employees and the California Nurses Association. From bitter competition over who shall represent nurses, they have shifted to an amicable agreement over dividing up the territory.

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