CNA affiliation statement
www.calnurse.org
For Immediate Release March 9, 2007
California Nurses Association/NNOC Joins AFL-CIO following Endorsement of Single Payer Healthcare,
Affiliation Unites 325,000 RNs in Federation
The California Nurses Association, and its national arm, the National
Nurses Organizing Committee was granted a charter Thursday to join
the AFL-CIO, uniting 325,000 registered nurses into the leading voice
of America’s working people. CNA/NNOC represents 75,000 RNs in all 50
states.
Significantly, the affiliation came two days after the Federation
adopted a sweeping new healthcare policy statement endorsing a single-
payer type system premised on “updating and expanding Medicare
benefits” to all Americans.
Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of CNA/NNOC, said it was thrilled
to be joining the AFL-CIO and also praised the Federation’s new
healthcare policy.
“We look forward to being a part of a Federation that has
distinguished itself as the national voice of working people in the
U.S., and is the leading national champion for all Americans on a
broad range of critical issues, including jobs, retirement security,
economic opportunity, workplace safety, civil rights, civil
liberties, and public safety.”
The AFL-CIO’s new policy statement on healthcare symbolizes that
leadership role, DeMoro said. CNA has been actively campaigning for
enactment of bills in Congress, HR 676, and California, SB 840, that
represent the type of reform endorsed by the AFL-CIO.
In statements after the policy was adopted, United Steelworkers
President Leo Gerard, chair of the AFL-CIO’s Legislation Committee,
welcomed the new policy as “a roadmap to universal coverage” and the
Federation’s health policy specialist Gerald Shea specifically cited
HR 676.
Labor has been at the center of a growing grassroots movement to
enact HR 676. The bill has been endorsed by 245 union organizations
in 40 states including 64 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor
Federations and 17 state AFL-CIOs.
CNA/NNOC, DeMoro noted, “is especially pleased to be a part of the
325,000 RNs now represented by the AFL-CIO who will have such a
prominent voice in that effort.” RNs, she said “who are at the heart
of our healthcare system, have an especially unique role to play with
all of labor and our many community allies to transform our current
dysfunctional system to achieve guaranteed, universal healthcare for
all, based on an improved and expanded Medicare.”
In addition to building “a stronger movement to end the nation’s
national healthcare nightmare,” DeMoro praised other positions taken
by the AFL-CIO, including mobilizations to:
Enact the Employee Free Choice Act, recently passed by the House, to
protect the democratic rights of workers to form unions
Support the United Steelworkers’ Goodyear workers in their efforts to
protect the health and welfare of their members
Protect public health and defend public healthcare workers, as in the
current fight by AFSCME and CNA/NNOC to overturn budget cuts in Chicago
Overturn the attempt by the Bush Administration to privatize Social
Security
Confront moves by the Bush Administration’s labor board to erode
workers’ rights, as in the “Kentucky River” challenge to the union
representation rights of registered nurses
Challenge globalization and the de-industrialization of America
Defeat some of the most reactionary members of Congress and state
legislators in the 2006 elections
“As CNA/NNOC is steeped in analytical work which is central to our
advocacy for RNs and patients, we particularly appreciate the
creative leadership of the AFL-CIO in developing and promoting an
alternative economic model to the disastrous policies espoused by a
number of politicians that have eroded the safety net and security of
so many Americans.”
“CNA/NNOC is excited to be joining the AFL-CIO and all appropriate
bodies of the federation at this critical juncture, and the
opportunities we have to build a militant, united labor movement that
is so essential to the future of our nation and the international
labor movement,” DeMoro said.
For more information about CNA/NNOC, see www.calnurses.org.