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PRO-MNA
Labor Cabinet Unanimously Votes to Disaffiliate from ANA
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Cabinet for Labor Relations Advocates
for Disaffiliation from ANA
The Cabinet for Labor Relations, the elected leadership
of the Labor Program, is unanimously in support of disaffiliation
from the ANA. We believe that the survival of nurses and nurses'
work; nursing, is dependent on focusing our resources ( read money)
and our efforts (read people and strategies) on dealing with
issues in ways that are pro-nurse, professional, pro-active, progressive,
pro-patient and will yield the best result for our nurses and their
patients.
MNA as a condition of membership in the ANA federation
pays a membership fee of $85.00 per full time member. The MNA, not
the individual, belongs to the ANA. Massachusetts has paid
approximately $1-1.2 million /per year to the ANA.
Efforts to work for Change in ANA Exhausted
The ANA, in its efforts to be ‘all things to all
people", is an ambiguous voice in the face of massive healthcare
changes. Efforts to effect change within the ANA by advocates
for a progressive agenda have been exhausted. The ultimate
body responsible for ANA direction and policy is the elected House
of Delegates. Greater than 68%* of the revenue of the ANA is generated
by nurses in collective bargaining2 and less than 18% of those
nurses paying the ANA dues base are the decision – makers of the
HOD. In 1999, Massachusetts led a delegation which was charged to
call for proportional representation (members elected to the HOD
would proportionately reflect the SNA's membership) by all
states to the House of Delegates . Eight of the nine large
labor states; fearful that this would be such a divisive issue if
brought to the ANA floor asked Massachusetts to refrain from placing
a proportional representation by-law forward at the HOD. These states
agreed in return for Massachusetts with-holding this amendment,
that those states among the eight who did not have proportional
representation would work within their own organizations to seek
proportional representation. Not one of those states, except
for Massachusetts, pursued and passed successfully proportional
representation. While this effort would not achieve the over
68% of the dues base collective bargaining nurses represent, it
would have substantially improved the HOD's reflection of the membership
base.
This relationship of the membership being reflected
in the HOD is not the only issue of democracy that has been raised
regarding the ANA. In 1998-1999, the ANA Board of Directors
(BOD), voted to de-fund the elected structural units; the
Congress on Nursing Practice, Congress on Nursing Economics and
The Institute of Collective Bargaining. Decisions related
to the future structure and function of the ANA were delegated to
the ANA BOD appointed committees. This action undermined the HOD,
who, as the highest body of the authority had elected individuals
to fill positions of decision making. In addition to the issues
of non-representation and suspension of representation, the ANA
has had ongoing instability among its staff as seen by three executive
directors in a three year period as well as the fiscal instability
highlighted in an internal audit of the ANA (Lang Report).
Given the limited issues highlighted here it is
increasingly clear that there exists no mechanism to "fix" the ANA.
The Status Quo will Destroy Both Nurses and Nursing
If indeed we cannot "fix" the ANA through a democratic
process or in a reasonable time-frame through other means; why can
we no longer just go on as usual? Throughout the MNA, members
active in the ANA arena have expressed concerns about
ANA's actions (or lack thereof), policies and public postures.
However, never before has the very practice of nursing been threatened
in the manner we now witness. After decades of ANA leadership,
nurses and nursing now fight for survival. It is not dramatic to
state that unless nurses are galvanized and work for
solutions to the chaos created by the healthcare crisis, we
may well be the last generation of nurses/nursing as we know it.
The ANA has neither the collective will nor the single minded purpose
to fight this battle. ANA states that it is the voice for nursing
in America, but it is comprised of administrators, managers
,educators, entrepreneurs, advance practice nurses, staff nurses,
federal government nurses, private and public sector nurses. These
groups are not seeking the same solutions. The ANA in its effort
to "be all things for all nurses" sells all nurses short. Furthermore,
grave concerns about the ANA financial status and their poor management
of funds, as documented in the Lang report (released in 1999)4,
place ANA's viability in question . Nurses who are ready to mobilize
on the issues cannot subsidize the ANA efforts which are weak at
best and may undermine a progressive agenda. Nurses must put their
resources, both money and people, where we can effect the most successful
and beneficial changes for our membership.
ANA Free MNA
To disaffiliate from the ANA will not signal a loss
but in fact a gain in our independence and free will to work on
issues. Our ability to retain the fees otherwise paid for ANA membership
will increase MNA revenue by approx. $1 million /year at no increase
in "out of pocket dues" for our members. Click
here to see chart.With these moneys $ 1 million/year every year
we propose to work on initiatives for the following
objectives (click here to view objectives).
Conclusion
Massachusetts is the state with the highest national
percentage of residents insured with managed care, the highest
health care costs in the entire world, three-quarters of a million
people with no insurance and many more with inadequate insurance,
a business stranglehold on the health care system in which professionals
and patients are only numbers to be manipulated and exploited in
the interest of the bottom line, the infiltration of for-profits
and the death of non-profit institutions that existed for over a
century, the already unbearable increasing pressure on nurses and
nursing, the critical shortage of nurses and rapidly declining enrollments
in nursing education. Mediocrity is not a solution in the
present Massachusetts health care environment.
The Cabinet for Labor Relations, recommends strongly
that you support disaffiliation from the ANA by voting favorably
on this Bylaw for
disaffiliation November 9th at the MNA business meeting (there
is no cost for attendance at this meeting). We know that
an independent MNA will maintain and enhance its role as a
professional organization There are no nurses more professional
than the MNA members who negotiate, picket and strike on the issues
of safe, quality care. No nurses more professional than the MNA
members who testify at hearings and hold the Board of Registration
in Nursing accountable. No nurses more professional than the MNA
members who on a daily basis advocate for their patients and have
earned the highest level of public trust.
We know that an independent MNA will be pro-active.
The times demand it and we have proven through our major victory
with Tenet, the second largest for- profit in the nation, that MNA
nurses have the capability to be successfully pro-active.
We know that an independent MNA will be progressive.
We may choose to work on in collaboration or in alliance with other
like-minded independent organization to enhance our leadership position
in pursuing a progressive health care agenda that places universal
access and coverage at the forefront.
We know that an independent MNA will be Pro-Nurse.
To be Pro –Nurse is to honor the nurse and thereby also honor
his/her work – which is Nursing. We do not support a philosophy
in which ‘nursing" is revered but the nurse is exploitable and expendable.
Our strategies will not be dictated by a need for "a seat
at the table" but in fact by addressing issues and concerns and
choosing when to sit, how long to sit and when to stand
for what we believe.
We the Labor Cabinet are asking you to stand
with us in a vision for a "Pro-MNA" future.
Signed All the members of the Cabinet, Karen Higgins,
Chairperson, Leslie Sullivan, Vice-chairperson, Secretary,
Janet Gale, Denise Garlick, Treasurer and Directors: Maryellen Baez,
Catherine Evlog, William Fyfe, Jo Anne LaForest, Liz Joubert, Judy
Locke, Mary Marengo, Patricia O'Neill, Margaret Queeny, Tina Russell
and Janet Spicer
1 MNA Budgets 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
2 House of Delegates Report 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997,1998, 1999
3 Budget 1999
4 Lang Report 1999
5 Bylaw Amendments 2000
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