W Post: Expanding nurses union steps up strikes

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/20/AR2010112003663.html

By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 21, 2010


A nurse who wished to remain unnamed joins the picket lines of her colleagues in June at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. The National Nurses United union helped organize the strike. (Brian Peterson/star-tribune)


The nurses at the Washington Hospital Center were all set to wear red scrubs - the union color - on Monday in preparation for a strike the day before Thanksgiving. But those scrubs can be put away, at least for now, because the union canceled the one-day strike, and management put controversial pay cuts on hold, as both sides are to resume talks after the holiday.

That turn of events reflects an aggressive strategy by a national nurses union, experts say: Its members are growing in numbers, and they have not been afraid to walk picket lines. The huge costs of hiring temporary nurses - and likely bad publicity - have forced institutions like the hospital center to return to bargaining on staffing and wages.

National Nurses United, the largest nurses union in the country, has helped organize strikes or threatened them this year at hospitals in California, Pennsylvania, Maine, Michigan and Minnesota. The Oakland, Calif.-based union has tapped into concerns of registered nurses worried about losing jobs at a time when hospitals and health-care organizations are under enormous pressure to cut costs.

"They have been very aggressive in legislative lobbying efforts, influencing public policy through informational picketing, and willingness to get out there and strike," said Joanne Spetz, an economist who specializes in nursing workforce issues at the University of California at San Francisco. "Love them or hate them, you have to respect their success."

The union also sported a high-profile campaign during the recent midterm elections by attacking Republicans for their positions on health care. They targeted Meg Whitman, who lost to Jerry Brown in California's governor's race, and Sharron Angle, who was defeated by Democratic incumbent Harry Reid in Nevada's Senate race.

FULL story at link.

[Alfa Mouille]

1. Solidarity

Nurses unions are quickly becoming a backbone for progressive organizing.