• Listen to this segment

Three major unions of registered nurses merged together earlier this week in an effort to influence national policy and improve health care. On Monday, the newly formed National Nurses United became the largest such professional labor organization of its kind in U.S. history with 150,000 members. The influential California Nurses Association joined together with United American Nurses and the Massachusetts Nurses Union at a formal convention in Phoenix, Arizona and selected Rose Ann DeMoro to be the NNU’s first executive director. In a healthcare industry that has continued to add jobs during the economic recession and is expected to do so in the years to come, the ‘super union’ of nurses hopes to organize registered nurses that are currently working with no union recognition while seeking to export California’s nurse-to-patient ratio out to the rest of the nation. As the health care debate continues in Washington, the NNU, with its increased numbers and bargaining power, also wants to position itself to influence national health policies. National Nurses United began its advocacy immediately on Tuesday with a march and rally for reform outside the Arizona and American Hospital Associations.

GUESTS: Jean Ross, co-president of National Nurses United, Deborah Burger, president of the California Nurses Association

For more information, visit www.nationalnursesunited.org.