500 Nevada Nurses Join CNA/NNOC

by James Parks, Dec 7, 2007

Nurses at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Reno, Nev., celebrate joining CNA/NNOC.

Registered nurses at Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nev., voted by nearly 2–1 yesterday to form a union with the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC). The worksite includes some 500 registered nurses. 

Amy Barats, an emergency room nurse at Saint Mary’s, says: 

We are thrilled that we are going to be negotiating to improve the quality of patient care at Saint Mary’s. Safe patient care is our number one concern and nurses now have the collective bargaining power to make changes necessary.   

The nurses were concerned with strengthening their ability to act as patient advocates, improved patient care protection standards, compensation and benefits that help recruit and retain skilled nurses, the union says. 

Malinda Markowitz, a member of the CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents, was ecstatic about the election: 

For the nurses and patients at Saint Mary’s, this is a monumental night, with a breakthrough that will make this a better hospital for patients and for the Reno community. We are excited to welcome the Saint Mary’s RNs into the CNA/NNOC family and to our joint commitment to improving the quality of patient care and achieving a just healthcare system for all.  

Saint Mary’s is the latest hospital owned by Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), where nurses have chosen CNA/NNOC. The union reached an agreement with CHW this summer, which includes landmark patient protections, such as inclusion of California’s mandated nurse-to-patient ratio law in the contract, as well as a clause that new technology will aid—not impede—the nurses’ clinical judgment at the bedside. 

CHW in California also has agreed to provisions that help recruit and retain nurses, including strong retirement protection and paid health care benefits for RNs, spouses and their dependents.          

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