Political
connections and organizing campaigns
By Jeanine Hickey, RN
Associate Director/Organizer
Developing political connections and alliances is a key component
in any campaign, whether it is a union organizing campaign,
a campaign seeking public policy changes, or a direct action
campaign for social justice. Building political relations is
one of the most important aspects of any organizing campaign
involving the nursing profession and the health care industry.
Why? Because, as Charlie Stefanini, the MNA Director of Legislation
and Government Affairs has so aptly stated to many MNA members, "Everything
you do as nurses and health care professionals is directly
related on some level to a government process or agency." Whether
it is on the local, state or federal level, every aspect of
a nurse's job is regulated by one of these legislative
bodies. That is why it is very important for nurses to establish
connections with their elected officials before there is
a pressing issue.
Political activism is important for unions. In the past several
years, the MNA has worked hard to educate members on the
importance of political connections and legislative activism.
As frontline
registered nurses, we know full well the challenging conditions
we face in our daily practice. That is why we must be at
the forefront in educating our legislators on the effects
those
conditions are having on our patients and our professional
practice. If we don't take the lead in getting our
message out to the legislature, you can be assured that the
only message
they get will be from the hospital industry. As we all know,
it is not the same as ours.
We have come a long way in the past several years in making
our voices heard on Beacon Hill. MNA members have become actively
involved in lobbying elected officials on the local, state
and federal levels through phone calls, emails, letter writing
and office visits. In addition, many members have worked on
election campaigns, hosted coffees for candidates and attended
legislative briefings. It is through these efforts that nurses
have made political connections that have proved to be beneficial
for their bargaining units and for the Association.
Although one of the main focuses of the effort to mobilize
members has been the passage of safe staffing legislation
(H.2663), members' political connections have been
important for their own bargaining unit fights over mandatory
overtime, nursing
practice issues and campaigns to save their hospitals from
closure.
The importance of having established political connections
became clear during the strikes at St. Vincent's Hospital,
Worcester, and Brockton Hospital. Nurses in both bargaining
units courageously fought against unsafe staffing conditions
and mandatory overtime. In both cases the bargaining units
were able to call upon existing political alliances for support
and to expand their contacts to include every level of the
political spectrum, from the local and state level right
up to the federal level. These contacts were instrumental
in settling
both high profile strikes.
In the case of St. Vincent's, the direct involvement
of Sen. Edward Kennedy and Rep. James McGovern brought the
hospital and MNA bargaining unit nurses together in Washington
to negotiate a settlement to the nurses' 49-day strike.
These negotiations led to landmark contract language that
set strict limits on the use of mandatory overtime and gives
a
nurse the explicit right to refuse a mandatory overtime assignment
if he or she were too fatigued or ill to work safely.
In May 2001, the nurses at Brockton Hospital went on strike
to protest the hospital's failure to provide sufficient
staff and resources to offer safe patient care and to stop
the use of mandatory overtime as a means of staffing the hospital.
Like their colleagues at St. Vincent's, the bargaining
unit nurses established political contacts on all political
levels. On Aug. 24, 2001, an agreement was reached to settle
the strike after Sen. John Kerry facilitated a marathon negotiating
session. Two important provisions of the settlement were
an obligation by the hospital to maintain staffing levels
so that
overtime would not be used to staff the hospital and language
that set strict limits on the use of mandatory overtime and
inappropriate floating.
In addition to these struggles, MNA members have reached out
politically in their campaigns to keep health care facilities
from closing. MNA members engaged local and state politicians
in their efforts to help save several hospitals: Whidden, Waltham,
the Fernald School, Worcester State and Hale Hospital (now
Merrimack Valley Hospital).
A good example of the MNA nurses' efforts to fight
hospital closure was the campaign to save Hale Hospital in
Haverhill.
In this campaign, because the Hale was a municipal facility,
every aspect of the sale needed to go before local and state
legislative bodies. MNA nurses, working in coalition with
other unionized employees at the Hale, lobbied elected officials
over a two-year period primarily to keep the community-based
hospital open, and, secondarily, to protect the pensions
and
jobs of hospital workers.
The political work done by the Hale nurses in conjunction with other employees
and advocacy groups was instrumental in keeping the hospital in service so it
could be sold and remain in business. The political connections the nurses made
in this campaign led to the development of long-term alliances with their local
legislators and proved to be instrumental in subsequent lobbying efforts, like
the safe staffing initiative.
As we face the professional challenges and uncertainties of a health care system
in jeopardy, the importance of forming political connections becomes more important
than ever. Nurses have credibility in the public policy arena when speaking on
nursing and health care issues. We must continue to develop and maintain strong
political connections to continue to be at the forefront of shaping public policy.
So, if you want to be a part of the voice of change, you need to GET POLITICAL!
How can you get political?
