Massachusetts Nurses Association Votes To Stay With National Organization

Members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) voted on Thursday to stay with their national organization, the American Nurses Association. The vote was held at the MNA's business meeting during its annual Convention at the World Trade Center in Boston.

More than 1,100 nurses turned out for the vote, representing the highest ever attendance for a business meeting of the Association.

The vote was called to decide a bylaw proposal to disaffiliate from the ANA. A change in MNA bylaws requires a two-thirds majority vote. The vote was 648 votes in support of the disaffiliation bylaw change, with 397 voting against. That vote did not meet the two-thirds majority needed to change the bylaws. Later in the meeting, a motion to reconsider the previous vote on disaffiliation was passed by the membership body. This was followed by a second vote on the issue. The tally for the second vote was 414 in favor of disaffiliation, with 255 opposing the measure. Once again, the vote fell short of the margin needed to approve a bylaw change that would have resulted in MNA disaffiliating from the ANA.

Throughout the summer and fall, the organization conducted a series of 11 Town meetings throughout the state to educate members about the proposed change, and to allow both sides on the issue to present their case to the membership.

The MNA, which represents more than 20,0000 nurses throughout the state, is one of 54 constituent members of the American Nurses Association's federation of state nurses associations. The MNA, which has been affiliated with the ANA since its 1903, is the second largest state nurses association after New York in the ANA federation. Last month, a similar vote was taken by the Maine Nurses Association, which also voted to remain with ANA.

With this issue behind them, the MNA is committed to moving forward to address the key issues confronting nurses in the Commonwealth and the nation.

Dues Proposals Considered

In addition to the issue of MNA's relationship with ANA, the membership also cast votes on two proposals related to raising MNA dues. The membership voted down an across-the-board $40 dues increase for all members, which was proposed by the Board of Directors.

However, the membership did approve a $52 increase in dues for its general membership effective Jan. 1, 2001. General members are those members of the Association not involved in collective bargaining. The increase brings the dues of those members to parity with the dues of collective bargaining members. It was the first increase in dues for general members since 1987. The collective bargaining members had a $52 increase in 1994.

A complete run down of all decisions made at the MNA business meeting will appear in the November/December issue of the Massachusetts Nurse.