(Editor’s note: 2001 will be a year of realignment for nurses seeking to
reposition themselves to take on and defeat the corporatizing thrust of the
health care industry and all the harm that that entails. For up-to-the-minute
news of this epic struggle, go to the web site of the Massachusetts Nurses
Association <http://www.massnurses.org>. These Seachange Bulletins,
chronicling the focused rage of organized nursing, and a wealth of background
articles on related topics are archived on Sandy’s Links <http:/
/users.rcn.com/wbumpus/sandy>. -- Sandy Eaton, RN, Quincy,
Massachusetts)

Get Ready for the ANA Propaganda

As we get closer to the March 24th Disaffiliation vote, you can expect an
increase in ANA smear tactics: to be flooded with literature, phone calls and
just plain lies about the MNA and inflated rhetoric about the ANA.

We have seen some of the materials they have been circulating, and we wanted
to share the reality behind the ANA myths you might expect to see or hear in
the coming weeks.

ANA Myth: MNA is harming its members by not having a secret mail
ballot for this vote.
MNA Reality: MNA bylaws, specifically Article XXII, explicitly prohibits a
mail ballot for this purpose. There has never been a mail ballot for any
bylaw issue. The truth is this claim, and yet another frivolous lawsuit by
the ANA related to it, is an attempt to create a smokescreen of lies and
misinformation to keep you from voting on this issue. Do not fall for it.

ANA Myth: The UAN structure is safe for MNA to belong to, and
changes are being proposed to make it safer.
MNA Reality: No tangible changes have been made to the UAN structure to
make it safer, and in fact ANA/UAN refused to adopt the state of Maine's
request to make changes in the UAN structure to make it lawful and better
insulated from charges of management domination. As a result, the Maine
nurses are strongly considering disaffiliation.

ANA Myth: The ANA/UAN is a strong national voice for nurses across this
country in the legislature and on the front lines.
MNA Reality: After 100 years, the ANA represents just 7% of the nation's
nurses. In the last 10 years, except for a needlestick bill (which the MNA
was instrumental in passing) and some increases in funding for nursing
education and community health centers, ANA has passed virtually no
legislation to help nurses at the bedside or to protect nurse staffing -
none. The UAN is actually one of the weakest unions in the country, which is
rushing into an AFL-CIO affiliation to protect itself from raids from other
unions.

ANA Myth: If MNA disaffiliates, we will need to increase member dues to
the level of those of the California Nurses Association to recreate what we
would be losing through disaffiliation on the national level.
MNA Reality: Your dues will increase if we stay affiliated. One of the key
reasons we want to disaffiliate is to avoid the $35 ++ dues increases being
proposed by ANA. In the case of the California nurses, the ANA is blatantly
misrepresenting the facts. California nurses' dues increase was proposed and
passed by ANA's Mary Foley, who was President of CNA just before the
organization split from ANA. CNA has yet to propose or pass any dues increase
since disaffiliating from ANA. Since leaving ANA, CNA has had tremendous
success; adding 16,000 members, more new members recruited than the entire
ANA federation combined, which makes CNA the nation's largest nurses
association. CNA has also passed the nation's first safe staffing bill.

It's Time to Look Behind The ANA Rhetoric and the Lies
And to Vote For An Independent MNA on March 24th!


David Schildmeier
Director of Public Communications
Massachusetts Nurses Association
800-882-2056 x717 (Within Mass. only)
781-830-5717
781-821-4445 (fax)
781-249-0430 (cell phone)
508-426-1655 (pager)

---------------------------

February 24, 2000

TO: The American Nurse

As an ANA/MNA member I would like to respond to both the recent ANA survey
and the most recent edition of The American Nurse. The results of the ANA
survey on nurses working conditions are no surprise to any nurse who has
provided direct patient care in the last 15 years. Much of the findings of
that survey actually echo what nurses have said for the last 100 years.

The survey found that thousands of nurses feel "discouraged" and "saddened"
by their inability to deliver safe, quality care due to inadequate staffing
and supply of RN's. My first question is, why the findings did not reflect
outrage? Outrage that patients are not receiving basic care in American
hospitals? Outrage that patients are not only being denied compassion and
human dignity in our hospitals and nursing homes, but that they are dying and
being injured unnecessarily? Outrage that ANA proposed staffing legislation
turns out to be another moderate proposal and dressed up position statement
which considers industry needs? Outrage that nursing leaders have stayed
silent and polite for so long?

Nurses also reported that they felt "powerless to effect change necessary for
safe, quality care." Isn't this what nurses claim we, as a profession, do?
This is particularly sad when the findings are reported in a survey conducted
by the American Nurses Association. Why are member nurses feeling "powerless"
when they are paying ANA millions of dollars a year to be their voice in the
nation's capital?

Does ANA believe that nurses will feel more empowered when they realize that
ANA has launched a smear campaign against one of it's constituent members?
The American Nurse has just sent almost an entire edition across the country
which attempts to smear Massachusetts nurses by painting us as maniacal and
"abhorrent"... pictures of Karen Daley included. Did The American Nurse
attempt to speak with the MNA Board of Directors, Executive Director, or
President? Of course not. The goal is not to seek truth, but to manipulate
MNA/ANA nurses with emotional hysteria. No wonder nurses feel "powerless."

In addition to an expensive and well orchestrated campaign of fear and
intimidation against a member state, ANA is sending a message to all
constituent members that, should they differ with a future ANA or UAN policy
or philosophy, they too will be the subject of such an attack. Unfortunately,
after June they will not be able to choose independence.

Sandy Ellis RN
MNA District 2

---------------------------

<http://boston.bcentral.com/boston/stories/2001/02/26/story2.html>

As pressure mounts on nurses, union presence grows

by Allison Connolly, Boston Business Journal

February 23, 2001

The health care industry is increasingly under pressure, and nurses say they
are bearing the brunt of it.

They say they are working longer hours and juggling more patients than ever,
but they claim they have little recourse with an administration worried about
its bottom line. So, it is not surprising that union activity is growing.

According to the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), there has been more
organizing in the last three years than in the past decade. Between 1995 and
1998, there were seven successful campaigns, compared with a historical
average of one every three to five years, the MNA said. Of the 79 hospitals
in the state, nurses in 54 are unionized, and all but four of those are
collective bargaining units of the MNA.

All it takes to start a union campaign is a phone call to a collective
bargaining organization like the MNA.

"We've always gotten interest," said Julie Pinkham, the association's
executive director. "The question is whether they could sustain the
organizing campaign."

The momentum is picking up because nurses -- who come from a culture where
they "do what they're told," as one nurse puts it -- are becoming more vocal
about the increased stress in their profession, both internally and
externally.

Conditions have become so bad, nurses say, that they worry their licenses --
and patients' lives -- are being threatened.

Several factors have contributed to the staffing problem. Hospitals say the
1997 Balanced Budget Act slashed their federal Medicare reimbursements,
putting mounting pressure on their budgets, which include staffing and
payroll. The average age of a nurse is 46, and the profession has failed to
attract new and younger nurses into its fold.

The growing nursing shortage has prevented some hospitals from keeping full
staffing levels, and many have asked nurses to work longer shifts or float to
other units during their shifts to make up the difference. The issues of
mandatory overtime and flex-time -- requiring nurses to go home and use
vacation time if there are too many on at one time -- have caused a flurry of
union activity in their own right.

That's what happened at Worcester Medical Center/St. Vincent Hospital, where
newly unionized nurses made headlines last year for launching a 49-day strike
after the hospital's owner, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Tenet Healthcare Corp.,
tried to implement a mandatory overtime and flex-time policy.

"The true reason why we organized in the first place was due to unsafe
staffing," said Sandy Ellis, a registered nurse on the psychiatric floor at
St. Vincent Hospital, and now a legislative liaison for the MNA bargaining
unit.

Still, it took two years of organizing to get a favorable vote, which
happened Feb. 5, 1998.

"At the very beginning, very few nurses would come to these organizing
meetings," Ellis said.

Now that her colleagues are unionized, she said the nurses have been able to
effect change. She said her union and the administration just negotiated new
staffing ratios, which limit the number of patients a nurse is given per
shift. Before the strike, she said ratios for floor nurses had risen from a
maximum of six patients per nurse to 11 patients. She said the nurses are
happy about the new ratios, which vary according to the specialty, but it
will be up to the hospital to hire enough nurses to make it happen, she said.

While many organizing campaigns have been successful, not all have, and there
are some notable hospitals that are not organized.

Just last month, nurses at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth voted 514-288 not
to unionize. Nurses who favored the union were disappointed by the vote, and
publicly blamed the administration for thwarting their efforts. Hospital
officials declined to comment on the Jan. 5 vote. However, the hospital has a
new vice president of nursing who is developing policies to attract and
retain nurses, a spokesman said.

Two of Boston's largest teaching hospitals, Massachusetts General Hospital
and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, are also not unionized.

Janette Ives Erickson, chief nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, does
not believe a union is the answer to the nursing shortage or staffing
problems.

"While nursing work is very hard, I believe it's critical that we stick
together," said Erickson, who oversees the hospital's 3,000 nurses.
"Adversarial relationships are not going to get us out of this situation."

Erickson said she does not believe a third party is more effective in solving
problems with her staff. And despite what unions claim, she said hospitals
realize that hard-to-find nurses are assets, not expenses.

"I think it's a great time to be a nurse," she said. "While everyone is
focused on the shortage of nurses, we have the unique opportunity to talk
about the needs of the profession. Everyone is listening."

Copyright 2001 American City Business Journals Inc.

---------------------------

For Immediate Release
February 23, 2001

Following Historic CNA-CHW Agreement:

NURSES AT THREE CATHOLIC
HEALTHCARE WEST HOSPITALS SEEK
UNION REPRESENTATION

The California Nurses Association said today registered nurses have taken the
next step toward bringing CNA representation to three facilities of the
hospital chain Catholic Healthcare West.

Over 30 percent of the Registered Nurses have indicated their desire for CNA
representation at:

* St. Bernadine Hospital in San Bernardino, Ca.

* St. Dominic Hospital in Manteca, Ca.

* Oak Valley Hospital in Oakdale, Ca.

The announcement comes 10 days following conclusion of a landmark agreement
between the association and management that is to guide CNA efforts to
organize registered nurses and other healthcare professionals at CHW
hospitals in California, Nevada and Arizona. Upon reaching the 30 percent
threshold CNA can meet with RNs in public areas free from employer
interference, post information on facility bulletin boards and secure time
off for CNA nurses at other CHW facilities to join the organizing effort.

"This is a great day for us," said Karen Barrett, RN at St. Bernadine. "My
colleagues and I are taking a bold step forward to protect the profession of
nursing."

"This is a very important moment for us," said Pete Martin, RN at Oak Valley.
"We are delighted that we will have the opportunity to become part of CNA."

The CHW system, based in the Western states, contains 47 hospitals and five
medical groups. CNA is the largest organization of RNs in California with
35,000 members. CNA currently represents approximately 5,000 RNs working in
CHW hospitals and is the largest group of unionized CHW employees.

Under terms of the CNA-CHW agreement:

* RNs can discuss CNA representation on work time in the hospital.

* No threats, intimidation, coercion or disciplinary action shall be taken
or threatened against RNs for organizing with CNA.

* RN attendance at meetings called by management to discuss representation
shall be voluntary.

* Management may not initiate any one-on-one conversations with RNs about
representation.

* Private, expedited, non-National Labor Relations Board elections for CNA
representation, overseen by a neutral third party overseer, will be held
within 45 days after CNA requests an election.

Virtually all of these provisions are unprecedented in the healthcare
industry and go well beyond existing labor law covering representation
elections.

"For quite a while now we have received communication from nurses and others
at CHW facilities that they wanted to become part of CNA," said Mike
Griffing, CNA collective bargaining director. "Our experience over the last
two weeks indicates that the wish to become part of the Association is even
greater than we had thought."

Since the organizing effort commenced, RNs have rapidly signed CNA cards at
15 non-union CHW hospitals.

"Concern over working conditions and a desire to play a role in creating the
best possible conditions for patient care have motivated RNs to want CNA
representation and to be part of the Association's activities," said
Griffing. "We are confident that over coming months the RNs' move to become
affiliated with CNA will be realized throughout the CHW system."

2000 Franklin Street, Suite 300
Oakland, CA 94612
www.calnurse.org

For information contact: Carl Bloice, 510-273-2249 or Mike Griffing,
510-273-2237.

-----------------------------

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