The new nurses mega-union, National Nurses United, has used strikes or strike threats this year in Maine, California, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Minnesota to batter hospitals to the bargaining table. Ex-Teamster organizer Rose Ann DeMoro, the President of National Nurses United, envisions a super union of the country’s 3 million nurses. NNU is capitalizing on the angst created by current economic woes to corral nurses into its fold. Like other Big Labor heavy-hitters, the NNU is very active on the political front as well, taking much of the credit for the loss of Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman in California, and the saving of Senator Harry Reid in Nevada. “They have been very aggressive in legislative lobbying efforts, influencing public policy through informational picketing, and willingness to get out there and strike,” said Joanne Spetz, an economist who specializes in nursing workforce issues at the University of California at San Francisco. “Love them or hate them, you have to respect their success.”
