Join us in lifting up the image of nursing to the public.
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I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you on the ridiculous "misinformation campaign" the CNA/NNOC is mounting against Meg Whitman.

Oh boy...here they go again. The good thing is that most professional nurses in California are smart enough to figure out their game. And, yours truly understands it very well. They need to understand that most intelligent people know that professional nurses don't act like they do and there is more to the story coming.

Also, do you REALLY think that Meg Whitman is at war with California nurses as the CNA touts in their press? Oh please.....you can't be that gullible. Go to www.truthfornurses.com and see Meg's thoughts on nursing. Find out for yourself. Also, Meg's husband is a doctor so she understands full well the importance of nurses.

More thoughts on this later. I can't speak for every One Voice nurse, unlike Roseann DeMorro who speaks as if she represent all nurses in California (even though she herself is not a nurse) but I can say without reservation that we all believe in professionalism. You won't see us yelling and screaming and interrupting Jerry Brown or Meg Whitman.

Every candidate should have the right to be heard so that voters can make responsible and informed decisions. I want to hear what Meg Whitman has to say and I will not base my decisions on the negative tactics and misrepresentation of Ms. DeMorro and her band of unprofessional bullies. The recent flyer they sent out to California nurses was an insult to our intelligence. We all know that Meg Whitman is not at war with California nurses. The CNA is at war with Meg Whitman and they  don't understand that the majority of us are onto their game and sick of their tactics. 

We know that  California's union retirement programs are  breaking the bank and totally out of control. Of course the CNA is going to say that Meg Whitman is out to slash retirement programs......actually she and many others are talking about the need to get these programs more realistic. We all deserve good retirement programs. Their statement that Meg Whitman wants to eliminate guaranteed meal and rest break is clearly a scare tactic. This is so typical of them it makes me laugh. They are assuming that all nurses are truly stupid. First of all, most of us work 12 hour shifts and there are labor laws that clearly define break times. So don't fall for that.

We are not stupid enough to believe most of what comes out of the CNA PR machine. We also deserve to have our state run by someone who is not beholdin' to the unions. Helloooooo......when  reading anything from the CNA keep in mind who is pulling the strings and carrying the  microphone. Roseann DeMorro is NOT A NURSE.

A little history lesson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Years ago when the California Nurses Association attempted to organize the nurses at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, I was faced with one of the most difficult and rewarding challenges of my nursing career. I had to decide who I was as a nurse and who I was going to listen to and believe in the ensuing battle for my vote. The decision was clear to me from the beginning and I decided to stand up and fight for my professional ability to speak for myself. I started this web site soon after and the nurses who are on this site are a representative sample of the many who stood with me and fought to remain union free.

I have maintained this site over the years due to the many messages I have received from other nurses around the country who admired the fact that we were willing to share our story and proud to post our pictures and speak out for professionalism in nursing. I have continued this site with my own money and on my own time. No one pays me to do this site. We continue our belief that it is best to remain union free and we are proud of our professionalism. We periodically update and add photos and information of interest. I have given talks to other organizations over the years as to how and why we stood up to this union and enjoy speaking about the profession I love.

When a union comes in to organize, the hospital management has to remain impartial. However, they do have the right to inform and educate staff about what this means and what their rights are. The union makes a big noise about how they are forcing the staff to attend meetings and not letting the union in to tell their side etc. but most of us wanted to go to these meetings to learn what all of this was about. That was our right and we were educated on those rights.

The union did more than their share of "telling their side" of the story. Their organizers stood outside on the sidewalk passing out flyers to incoming and outgoing staff at shift change. Some of them were really outrageous and actually backfired. The one they passed out with my picture on it that proclaimed I was in cahoots with administration and insinuated that I was being paid for all the work I was doing was truly done to cause staff to doubt my intentions and to stop the momentum I had created along with the other nurses who joined the effort. The worst part of this particular flyer was that they also added my husband's picture and tried to create the belief that he was somehow part of all this because he was at the time running for City Council of Beverly Hills and it went on to try to tie him in with hospital management. There's more to that story on how underhanded these organizers are but I'll save that for another time. The bottom line is that they went out of their way to deliberately smear my reputation with the nurses and create doubt.

 Well, you can imagine at first this took me back a few steps and I briefly considered shutting down the site and just walking away. I felt frightened and frustrated. But then I got mad.  I got really mad. And as they say down South, Don't make a Southern girl mad. I called Rick Torres, a person I had met only once in the early days of the campaign and he told me I could call if I ever had any questions. He is an Ex union organizing Director who now has his own company  and consults with hospitals around the country. Rick explained their tactics to me and helped me to understand that I was actually doing a  good job and yes they were trying to intimidate me and to intimidate my husband and he encouraged me to follow my heart and keep going because I was right and if I quit they would win. He was an  enormous help and over the years I have learned more and more. If you are ever in need of learning how to remain a union free organization, this is the person who can help you learn the real true facts and keep you ahead of the game. There is a huge increase in organizing occurring now across the country. Unions want your people to add to their declining numbers. They see healthcare as fertile ground for finding new members. The  time is now to educate yourself. Don't wait until it's too late.  You can learn more from his site here.  I highly recommend an education on dealing with unions from Rick Torres, an Ex union organizing Director, who helped me gain the confidence needed to stand up and remain true to myself and my professional beliefs and values.
Click on the link below to go to www.pslabor.com
 



There is a growing number of nurses across the country who are standing up to unions and taking their voice back. LISTEN UP! We are certainly smart enough to speak for ourselves and especially in this economy. Don't give your hard earned money to a union that will use it for their own agenda and not yours.

Sending best wishes for continued success to:  All nurses who are against forced unionism such as The Nurses at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania

These professional nurses spoke with a strong vote regarding their desire to keep their own voice.
Good for them!

We also Salute Genevieve Clavreul RN, PhD  for her well written blog - The Nurse Unchained.   I highly recommend it    click here to read


VERY IMPORTANT FOR ALL TO BE AWARE!

There are many challenges coming our way. These are tough times but we can do it together. Even though we may have differences in opinion on many issues, the important thing is to know how we should approach them and how we can approach them together. How do we make a difference professionally?

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I was honored to speak at the Fall meeting of the Arizona Organization of Nurse Executives in Phoenix to speak about the good work we have done over the years standing up for ourselves and our patients and remaining union free.

Sometimes we forget that we are all Ambassadors for Nursing in everything we do. Thank you for standing up  for our profession and the right to use your own voice. There are many nurses out there who are very committed to their profession and our willingness to speak out gives others a positive example to follow and reinforces their own belief that they are on the right path and not on it alone!

Thank you Joyce Benjamin and the Arizona Nurses Association for standing up for nursing
and the right to speak with your own professional voice.