MNA Board of Directors sets five-year plan for growth in member services and nursing power

The MNA Board of Directors is proud to share a new five-year plan it has developed in an effort to position the organization to dramatically improve the scope and quality of its services to members and to provide the resources and infrastructure to make the organization one of the most powerful and influential voices on a variety of health care issues, both in Massachusetts as well as throughout New England and the nation.

This five-year plan, which was developed with input from members, leaders, staff and the Board of Directors, builds on the goals, achievements, developments and improvements in the organization that have evolved since the organization’s historic decision to disaffiliate from the ANA in 2001 (turn to Page 11 for a more detailed analysis of these accomplishments). While the organization has come a long way in the last three years, there is much that needs to be done to position the MNA and its membership to deal with the challenges and pressures of a health care system dominated by an industry that, as our dog fight to win safe staffing legislation proves, shows little regard for the value of nursing and its impact on the quality and safety of patient care.

The Board of Directors’ five-year plan includes the following goals and objectives:

• Enhancing service, effectiveness, support and internal organizing of local bargaining units by establishing the best staff-to-bargaining unit ratio of any nurses union in the country.
• Foster strong leadership within the bargaining units through the creation of a first-rate Leadership Institute, featuring ongoing and comprehensive continuing education.
• Expanding the power of unionized nurses by “organizing the unorganized” in Massachusetts and throughout New England, thus adding clout, not only in local contract negotiations, but also by expanding our powerbase within the greater labor movement, on Beacon Hill and on Capitol Hill.
• As the nursing community ages, the MNA is committed to protecting the long-term security of its members through an intensive program that provides the organizational resources needed to secure long-overdue retiree health and pension benefits for nurses.
• Protecting the health and safety of nurses through continued expansion and development of the MNA’s Occupational Health and Safety Department, including expanded continuing education programming, online education, local bargaining unit education and support, and support for regional and national initiatives.
• Creating a statewide force of nurses involved in the political process on health care issues, including increased grassroots organizing on the regional level and efforts to build strong alliances and coalitions with non-nurse communities, labor and political organizations.
• Establishing a real political presence in New England and in Washington, D.C. through further development of regional and national nursing organizations, i.e. the American Association of Registered Nurses and the New England Nurses Association.
• Making the MNA the primary resource for improving and protecting nursing practice through increased education, outreach and MNA-generated research to underpin MNA positions and concerns.
• Improving and amplifying MNA’s internal and external communications through expansion of its local, regional and national media relations program, expansion of MNA’s Web site, providing an internet presence for local bargaining units and improved communications among members through the creation of member e-mail systems, bulletin boards, chat rooms and virtual meeting capabilities.

With these exciting plans and programs under development, your union is positioned to not only continue to grow as the region’s strongest nursing organization but to also become one of the area’s most active and influential health care organizations.

But achieving these goals cannot be accomplished without an increase in MNA dues. The fact is, there has not been a dues increase at MNA for more than a decade. While the MNA recouped significant resources in 2001 following disaffiliation, much of those resources were needed to pay off a deficit budget incurred under prior leadership and the remainder was required to support a number of initiatives dictated by the membership as part of the call for disaffiliation, including: waging a campaign to win safe staffing legislation; creating an occupational health and safety department; rebuilding and expanding our department of legislation and government affairs; and participating in the creation of a new national organization to supplant the ANA. In addition, fully 75 percent of the MNA’s budget is devoted to human resources: experienced and talented staff who direct and support the activities of the organization.

In fact, without a dues increase, the MNA will not be able to sustain its current level of services for its members.

To fund and support the current level of services, as well as to underwrite the expansion of services and activities called for by the membership in the coming years, the Board is putting together a dues proposal that will be published in the next issue of the Massachusetts Nurse, shared with the membership in Regional meetings this fall and voted on by the membership at our annual business meeting at convention on Oct. 7.

In preparation for this important vote, the Board has prepared several pieces of helpful information, including a comparison of MNA dues to other like-sized nursing and labor organizations and a breakdown of the cost of MNA dues compared to a variety of other items you pay for every day (see top of page).

Future issues of the Massachusetts Nurse will provide additional information to help members understand this important decision and the direction the organization hopes to take in the next five years.