The Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) is pleased to announce the ratification of a new historic partnership agreement to expand the opportunities, resources and voice for our members.
On February 8, 2013, WSNA’s national union, the National Federation of Nurses (NFN), voted to approve an affiliation agreement to affiliate with AFT, the largest union of professionals in the AFL-CIO (1.5 million). On February 16, 2013, in an historic joint meeting, the WSNA E&GW Cabinet and WSNA Board of Directors, after thorough review and discussion and following our established affiliation processes, voted to approve the NFN-AFT affiliation agreement and seek an official charter from AFT as a statewide AFT local. Each of the other NFN states (MT, OH and OR) is now in the process of ratification, with WSNA being the first state to move forward in this new partnership.
Membership in the AFL-CIO at the national level has long been a high priority for both WSNA and the NFN. For the past 2 years, at the direction of the WSNA Cabinet and WSNA Board, our WSNA members serving on the NFN National Executive Board along with our WSNA representatives on the NFN National Advisory Board (i.e., the WSNA President, Cabinet Chair, Executive Director, and Labor Program Director) have been deeply involved in the ongoing discussions regarding how best to achieve national AFL-CIO affiliation.
In choosing AFT and taking this action, not only will WSNA achieve national AFL-CIO affiliation, we believe this partnership will enhance the voice and power of nurses to advocate for quality care for our patients, uphold high standards for the nursing profession, and improve working conditions for nurses at the local, state and national level. With a strong history of advocating for professional standards for their members and over 30 years of experience organizing and representing nurses, AFT is a partner that can provide important additional resources and support for NFN, for our state, and for our collective bargaining members.
The affiliation establishes NFN and WSNA as partners with AFT, not subordinates. We have built ironclad guarantees of autonomy rights expressly stated in the affiliation agreement. Nothing in it alters the internal governance and self-determination rights of our state.
The need for effective advocacy by nurses has never been more crucial. This affiliation is taking place against the backdrop of a rapidly changing health care system characterized by ongoing changes in government policy and regulations, by a wave of hospital and health systems mergers, and tightening of reimbursement and funding policies that threaten professional practice standards and quality of care. By joining forces with AFT, WSNA and NFN will have access to greater resources to navigate these changes and more opportunities to advocate for our patients while doing so.
Affiliation with AFT also brings WSNA and the other NFN member states protection from raids or other predatory actions. By affiliating with the AFL-CIO through AFT, WSNA and the NFN gain protection from raids and jurisdictional attacks through Article XX and Article XXI provisions of the AFL-CIO constitution, which prohibits any AFL-CIO union from raiding or interfering with any other AFL-CIO union. AFT has also committed to protect and defend the NFN and its member states in this regard.
Affiliation will join together more than 33,000 NFN members with 48,000 registered nurses currently represented by AFT. Joined together, we can be even stronger and more effective in championing important issues like safe staffing and implementation of health care reform. We are excited by the opportunities and impact we will have together as one of the largest, most influential national nursing labor organizations in American history.
There will also be more detailed information in the coming days and weeks via e-mail, our website and the Washington Nurse. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with your questions and thoughts.