National Nurses United

Members on October 5, 2011 marching to Foley Square in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street

National Nurses United is the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States.[1][2]

Founded in December 2009, NNU brought together the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, United American Nurses, and Massachusetts Nurses Association. Its purpose is to give registered nurses a national voice and organizing power.

NNU's co-presidents are Deborah Burger, RN, Karen Higgins, RN, and Jean Ross, RN.

They have held numerous protests, including one in front of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and another on Wall Street.[3]

The executive director for the national organization, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, is long-time labor leader Rose Ann DeMoro, who had headed the 60,000 member California Nurses Association.[4] Within its first year, NNU achieved many accomplishments, including organizing more than 8,000 registered nurses in Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, Texas and Washington, D.C.

In 2011, NNU launched a campaign called the Main Street Contract for the American People. The national organization is working to create a movement – through demonstrations and legislative bills—that helps working-class people who are struggling during hard economic times. The campaign goal is to reclaim an economy with good jobs at living wages, healthcare for all, quality education, good housing, protection from hunger, a safe environment, and a secure retirement for everyone.

NNU supports a Wall Street tax on financial transactions, which the organization says could raise at least $350 billion a year.[5]

Support for Sanders

Writing in The New York Times on January 28, 2016, Nicholas Confessore reported that, "According to Federal Election Commission records [NNU's] “super PAC” has spent close to $1 million on ads and other support for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.[6] The NNU spending was classified as, “Expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate.”[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Growing National Nurses United union steps up strikes in aggressive new strategy".
  2. ↑ http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/nurses-rally-for-health-care-funding/
  3. ↑ http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/nurses-rally-for-health-care-funding/?scp=1&sq=%22national%20nurses%20united%22&st=cse
  4. ↑ "Nation Conversations: Rose Ann DeMoro on Demanding a Decent Standard of Living For All Americans - The Nation". 21 June 2011.
  5. ↑ "Nurses, Unions Propose Wall Street Tax". VOA.
  6. ↑ "Bernie Sanders Tops His Rivals in Use of Outside Money". The New York Times. 28 January 2016.
  7. ↑ "New York Times Gets it Wrong: Bernie Sanders Not “Top Beneficiary of Outside Money”". The Intercept. 29 January 2016.

External links

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