Daily Archives: December 8, 2009
National Nurses United Formed: Goals Organize the Unorganized & Universal Healthcare
U.S. Nurses Unions Merge, Back Healthcare Overhaul
By Tim Gaynor
December 8, 2009, Phoenix, AZ
Published by Reuters.
Three nurses unions merged on Monday to form the largest-ever labor organization for U.S. medical professionals, which is expected to wield greater clout in collective bargaining and the national healthcare debate.
Leaders of the new 150,000-member National Nurses United, comprising union locals from Maine to Hawaii, said their top priority would be to seek to organize the overwhelming majority of registered nurses who remain without union representation.
Of roughly 1.5 million nurses who provide direct patient care in U.S. hospitals and clinics, about 80 percent have no union contract, NNU officials said.
