Reprinted from Common Dreams by Lisa Newcomb on September 17, 2020.
“We could not be more proud of the unity, the perseverance, and the patient advocacy and dedication of the Mission RNs to their patients, their colleagues, and their community,” Bonnie Castillo, a registered nurse and executive director National Nurses United, said in a statement Thursday. “At a time when nurses are in a daily battle with the deadly fight for their patients and their own lives in the era of Covid-19, they have demonstrated incomparable courage and resilience that is an inspiration to all of us.”
The nurses voted by 965 to 411—a 70 percent landslide—to join the National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC)/National Nurses United (NNU), in a secret, mail-in ballot election conducted and counted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The vote count was completed early Thursday morning, and the pro-union votes prevailed, NNU wrote in a statement, despite a “heavily funded anti-union campaign by the hospital owner, HCA, the largest hospital system in the United States, and arguably the most politically and economically influential giant in the hospital industry.” …
