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2003-12-15 -- CNA and SEIU reach accord

CNA and SEIU reach accord to promote quality care, fight attack on
staffing ratio law.

San Francisco Chronicle, Dec 15, 2003

Two of California's largest healthcare unions, the Service Employees
International Union (SEIU) and the California Nurses Association
(CNA), said today that they're joining forces to oppose budget cuts
they say will undermine healthcare and create new threats to the
staffing ratio law.

Union leaders say they have established a new cooperation agreement to
confront the corporate healthcare industry and what they say are the
growing attacks on healthcare services in Sacramento and Washington.

According to the unions, one of their first priorities will be a joint
effort to challenge alleged attempts by the hospital industry to
undermine or delay implementation of California's law requiring safe
staffing ratios for registered nurses and to oppose state cuts in
healthcare services.

"Today marks the opening of a new era in which the state's two
strongest healthcare organizations will use our collective voice and
influence to protect patient safety and work to promote the highest
quality of care for all Californians,'' said CNA Executive Director
Rose Ann DeMoro.

"We're sending a message to every public official, hospital CEO and
HMO in the state,'' added Sal Roselli, president of Oakland's SEIU
Local 250 and co-chair of SEIU's national Health Care Division.

"Healthcare employees are standing united for the care our
communities' need.''

According to the unions, public policy analysts say the new
relationship between the two organizations will have profound
consequences for the public, as well as for workers who provide
healthcare.

"By working together in legislative and policy arenas, members of both
organizations will be a formidable force on healthcare reform in
Sacramento,'' said state Sen. John Burton, D-San Francisco.

"Californians who need care and the professionals who provide that
care will be better off as a result of this new accord," Burton said.

The California Nurses Association is the largest organization of
registered nurses in California, representing 55,000 RNs in 150
facilities throughout the state. It is also the largest independent RN
organization in the nation.

The 1.6 million-member Service Employees International Union is the
nation's largest union and the largest union of healthcare
professionals. In California alone, more than 275,000 SEIU registered
and vocational licensed nurses, respiratory care practitioners,
radiologic technologists, certified nurse assistants and every other
type of healthcare professional work in hospitals, nursing homes, home
care and other settings.


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SEIU’s STATEMENT:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 15, 2003
CONTACT: Lisa Hubbard
213-368-7404
hubbardl@seiu.org

CALIFORNIA NURSES ASSOCIATION AND SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL
UNION TO WORK TOGETHER FOR QUALITY HEALTH CARE IN CALIFORNIA

State’s two biggest health care unions to oppose budget cuts that
undermine health care and new threats to staffing ratio law

Putting aside a decade of differences, California’s two largest health
care unions, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the
California Nurses Association (CNA) announced today the establishment
of a new, powerful cooperation agreement to confront the corporate
health care industry and the growing attacks on health care services
in Sacramento and Washington.

One of the first priorities will be joint efforts to challenge
attempts by the hospital industry to delay implementation or undermine
California’s landmark law requiring safe staffing ratios for
registered nurses and to oppose state cuts in health care services.

"Today marks the opening of a new era," said CNA Executive Director
Rose Ann DeMoro, "in which the state’s two strongest health care
organizations will use our collective voice and influence to protect
patient safety and work to promote the highest quality of care for all
 Californians."

"We're sending a message to every public official, hospital CEO, and
HMO in the state," said Sal Rosselli, President of SEIU 250 in Oakland
and co-chair of SEIU’s national Health Care Division. "Health care
employees are standing united for the care our communities need."

Beginning immediately, SEIU and CNA will work in concert to:

* Ensure that California’s landmark law requiring staffing ratios for
registered nurses in acute care hospitals (AB 394) is properly
implemented and fully enforced. Oppose the displacement of other
healthcare employees, and support minimum staffing standards for other
caregivers.

* Oppose the repeal of SB 2, which requires additional employers to
provide health care coverage for the uninsured.

* Support other efforts to expand access to health care for all
Californians and to improve the overall quality of care.

* Defend health care services in the wake of California’s budget
crisis.

* Help all hospital employees in California achieve union
representation to work for affordable, quality care and fair treatment
on the job.

SEIU will support campaigns by RNs to join CNA, and CNA will support
campaigns by professional, licensed, certified and other health care
workers to join SEIU.

The new relationship between the two organizations will have profound
consequences for the public as well as for workers who provide health
care, say public policy analysts.

"By working together in legislative and policy arenas, members of both
organizations will be a formidable force on health care reform in
Sacramento," said Senator John L. Burton, California State Senate Pro
Tempore. "Californians who need care and the professionals who provide
that care will be better off as a result of this new accord."

University of California Santa Barbara sociologist Richard Flacks
praised the "promise of the agreement with its potential for enabling
mass organizing in the health care industry, which is essential for
protecting the health and welfare of all Californians and for
improving standards for the workers themselves."

"This is a major step for the labor movement and for the quality of
patient care," said Harley Shaiken, professor specializing in labor
issues at the University of California, Berkeley. "It’s important for
the labor movement because two key unions are now working together
which increases their leverage. It’s important for patient care
because this coalition will likely bargain effectively for registered
nurses and other health care workers, in a way that improves care in
the hospitals and clinics where they represent people."

The California Nurses Association is the largest organization of RNs
in California, representing 55,000 RNs in 150 facilities, and the
largest independent RN organization in the nation.

The 1.6 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is
the nation’s largest union and the largest union of health care
professionals. In California alone, more than 275,000 SEIU registered
and licensed vocational nurses, respiratory care practitioners,
radiologic technologists, certified nurse assistants and every other
type of health care professional work in hospitals, nursing homes,
home care and other settings.

Contacts:

Service Employees International Union,
Lisa Hubbard, 213/368-7404.
California Nurses Association, Charles Idelson,
510/273-2246.

With over 90,000 members, SEIU 250 is the largest and fastest-growing
healthcare union in the Western U.S. We represent every type of
healthcare worker, including nursing, professional, technical,
paramedic and service classifications. Our mission is to achieve
high-quality healthcare for all.

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CNA’s STATEMENT:

CNA and the Service Employees International Union have established a
cooperation accord to promote quality patient care and to rally
opposition to healthcare industry attacks on the RN staffing ratios
and scope of practice laws and proposed state budget cuts in
healthcare services.

Under the agreement, CNA will be the lead decision maker on
legislation, regulation and other public policy matters affecting RNs
and RN professional practice working with SEIU RNs. SEIU will be the
lead decision maker in those arenas for other healthcare employees.

SEIU will work with CNA to support implementation and enforcement of
the ratios as RN ratios. CNA and SEIU will fight against the
displacement of other healthcare workers which increases the work load
of RNs and jeopardizes patient care.

The accord enables CNA and SEIU to cooperate to improve workplace
conditions, and assist each other in bargaining campaigns with common
employers. CNA will continue to oppose labor-management partnerships;
where such partnerships exist, CNA and SEIU will independently pursue
mutually beneficial bargaining objectives.

In organizing, CNA will now have exclusive jurisdiction for campaigns
to represent all non-union RNs in California. SEIU will have
jurisdiction for all other unrepresented healthcare employees.

Improving our relationship with SEIU sends a powerful signal to the
healthcare industry and the new administration in Sacramento the state
’s two strongest healthcare unions will use our collective influence
to protect patient safety and promote the highest quality of care
based on a single standard of care for all Californians.

Agreement’s key points

■ Ratios are RNs. No displacement of other healthcare workers.

■ Opposition to industry deskilling and attacks on scope of practice.

■ Only CNA will organize non-union RNs. Only SEIU will organize other
non-union healthcare employees.

■ CNA is lead decision maker on legislative, regulatory, and public
policy issues for RNs working with SEIU RNs, SEIU leads for other
healthcare staff.

■ Cooperation in bargaining, organizing with common employers. CNA
will continue to oppose labor-management partnerships.

■ Opposition to healthcare budget cuts, repeal of SB 2 requiring more
employers to provide health coverage for the uninsured, and support
for other efforts to expand access to healthcare.