As we've seen in the campaign against Schwarzenegger, California labor unions have a long history of independent and effective action. Rachel Osterman in the Sacramento Bee writes about the California Nurses Association and their reaction to the national debates:
"The California Nurses Association followed a different path.
It split off from the more conservative American Nurses Association 10 years ago, and has since roughly tripled its statewide membership to 60,000. One of its most significant legislative coups was a first-in-the-nation law that dictated how many patients each nurse could treat.
Being independent from the AFL-CIO gave the union room to organize registered nurses. Nevertheless, at its fall convention, Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro said the nurses union will consider joining the AFL-CIO.
"A union by itself is a union. But a union by itself isn't a movement," she said."
Comments