From the Massachusetts Nurse Newsletter
November/December 2010 Edition
What a journey these last months have been! A change of leadership … joint-negotiating sessions … the sale of the Catholic health care system where I have worked for years. This truly was a journey—a journey that helped me to grow as a leader.
I had the privilege of sharing the MNA/Caritas story with hundreds of nurses who attended Minnesota’s annual convention. I told them about our journey, as did nurses from Chicago, Michigan and Pennsylvania. With the telling of these stories it was clear that we all have fights ahead of us and that we all need to support each other, be it locally, statewide or nationally.
How do I begin to thank my peers at Norwood, Carney and Good Samaritan? We listened to each other and we negotiated together, and I believe we got more for our nurses because of this collaborative work. I thank the St. Elizabeth’s committee as well. You are amazing leaders, and your collective work and support made the process fun and fruitful. To the MNA staff and leadership at the table, thank you for your hard work, advice and guidance. Julie Pinkham, you shared an idea and vision with us—a vision that we were able to make a reality. Thank you for that, and for making available to us the very best of the MNA’s resources.
We now look forward to bringing this vision to staff nurses everywhere … because every nurse deserves a pension, a secure financial future.
I am one person in a bargaining unit of 660 nurses, but I cannot do this alone. We are members of Region 5, but we cannot do this alone. There are several Regions within the state, but they cannot do this alone. We are one state in the new National Nurses United … and WE CAN do it with each other’s help
