By Jay Greene
Crain’s Detroit Business
Seven months after Okemos-based Michigan Nurses Association withdrew from the American Nurses Association, the 10,000-member state union and lobbying organization has joined the newly formed 150,000-member National Nurses United.
“We are witness to the birth of a strong vibrant organization that will address the injustice in the health care system and restore a balance of power in our hospitals,” said MNA Executive Director John Karebian.
National Nurses United was formed through the merger of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, the Massachusetts Nurses Association and the United American Nurses.
The MNA is a constituent member of the United American Nurses and an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.
The new union also adopted several campaigns, including:
- Organizing all direct care nurses “into a single organization capable of exercising influence over the health care industry, governments, and employers.”
- Promoting effective collective bargaining representation to all union affiliates to promote the economic and professional interests of all direct care nurses.
- Expanding the voice of direct care nurses and patients in public policy, including the enactment of safe nurse-to-patient ratios and patient advocacy rights in Congress and every state.
- Winning “health care justice, accessible, quality health care for all as a human right.”
