A Fact Sheet On ANA’s Strategic Union Partnerships Consideration of Affiliation with the AFL-CIO

Note: There was no bylaws proposal regarding affiliation and no action was taken at the House of Delegates.  This fact sheet is provided for clarification of issues related to this potential strategic partnership.

Introduction:

ANA is exploring several types of strategic partnerships to increase its influence and build membership.  A task force currently is exploring partnerships with nurse specialty organizations, among others.  A strategic partnership with the AFL-CIO, a federation of trade and professional unions, is not a new issue, but general discussion about this was generated as part of all the discussions at the House of Delegates.  

Background:

Several SNAs that provide collective bargaining services have done a great deal of work organizing RNs in various workplaces only to see competing unions raid those already-organized nurses.  Since it is easier to organize nurses who already are familiar with a collective bargaining approach to dealing with hospital or health system management, other unions are looking to build their membership by persuading RNs that their union will better represent them.  Competing unions have been very open about their interest in organizing in the health care arena, and are actively targeting people who work in hospitals, health systems, and large nursing home organizations.  

A National Labor Entity within ANA:

One way that SNAs will be supported in their work to represent RNs is through a national labor entity, the United American Nurses (UAN), approved by the House of Delegates.  This national entity will back up SNAs with organizational support and resources, and will coordinate efforts, share information, and help all SNAs offering collective bargaining be more effective.   

A Relationship with the AFL-CIO:      

Affiliation with the AFL-CIO, a federation of various trade and professional unions, would also offer some protection to those SNAs, since the AFL-CIO*s constitution requires that federation members not raid other federation unions.  If SNAs with collective bargaining programs could secure that protection, they could spend less time and resources fending off other unions, and focus on educating, organizing and representing RNs.  

Where is ANA in this process?

The ANA Board of Directors, the SNA Labor Coalition (a group of eleven SNAs), and other SNAs with an interest in this issue, have developed a process for considering affiliation.  They have defined a four-step process: exploration, discussion, negotiation, and agreement.  Each step has definite decision making points, but no one step automatically leads to the next. A working group has been formed and is proceeding with the informal exploration phase.  They are looking into various options and benefits to affiliating with the AFL-CIO.  The UAN, once its governing structure is formed, will play an important role in possible discussions with the AFL-CIO.  The possible affiliation could be with the UAN or another entity within ANA. 

What are the concerns?

SNAs in states where collective bargaining is not a viable strategy in dealing with workplace issues are concerned that an affiliation with a labor union will create perceptions about their SNA that may harm their ability to effectively represent their members and advocate for them in other ways.  For this reason, the board supports the possibility of affiliation with a distinct entity within ANA, not with the entire ANA, to acknowledge SNAs with these concerns. 

What are the next steps?

There were no bylaws proposals regarding affiliation, although it generally was discussed at the House because of the bylaws changes regarding creation of the national labor entity, the UAN.  The board  understands the importance of exploring options and will continue to do so.