California Nurses Association Joins AFL-CIO

by Mike Hall, May 21, 2007

The California Nurses Association (CNA) is the newest member of the AFL-CIO. The registered nurses union and its national arm, the National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC), which together have a membership of 75,000, join another 250,000 nurses in the AFL-CIO’s RN’s Working Together Industry Coordinating Committee.

Says CNA/NNOC President Deborah Burger, RN:

We look forward to engaging in collective work with AFL-CIO unions. We believe that the strength of the labor movement, coupled with the nurses’ commitment to guaranteeing comprehensive health care coverage through H.R. 676, will provide the foundation necessary for genuine reform.

H.R. 676 is one of several approaches under consideration in Congress to achieve quality, affordable universal health care.

Says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney:

Nobody understands better than nurses that health care in our country cries out for reform. CNA has led the drive for reform in California; working together in the AFL-CIO, we have the power to build a broad new national movement that can win change.

Along with its newest members, RN’s Working Together is made up of  nurses represented by United American Nurses (UAN), AFSCME, AFT, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFGE, the Steelworkers (USW), Office and Professional Employees, (OPEIU),  UAW and the Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE). Says Burger:

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 CNA/NNOC affiliation is the latest in a series of AFL-CIO affiliations and partnerships that have significantly strengthened the labor movement. 

Last December, nearly 50,000 mail handlers with the National Postal Mail Handlers Union returned to the AFL-CIO after having left the federation along with its parent union, the Laborers. The 60,000 members of the United Transportation Union (UTU) also affiliated with the AFL-CIO late last year.

Four National Education Association (NEA) groups have taken advantage of the unique national NEA/AFL-CIO partnership opportunity. The groups are the Rialto (Calif.)Education Association, the Seattle Education Association, the Beloit (Wis.) Education Association (Wis.) and the University of the District of Columbia Faculty Association.

Two more unions have recently affiliated directly with the national AFL-CIO under the new Unity Partnership program: the Monarch Electric Blue Collar Union (Ohio) and the Dade County School Maintenance Employee Committee (Fla.). For more information on Unity Partnerships, click here.

In addition, the AFL-CIO has forged innovative new partnerships with the National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON), the nation’s largest day laborer association, and Interfaith Worker Justice, a national coalition of faith-based worker rights groups.

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