Since NYSNA members transformed our union in 2012 to be a fighting, member-led union of frontline nurses and healthcare professionals, we have been doing the work to make that goal a reality. We have developed trainings and structures to inform, empower, and prepare members to lead our union. We have built our nurse power from the ground up, and we have used it to take on — and win — major battles for safe staffing and respect.
Many of our recent victories — from winning new staffing laws to establishing great new contracts — would not have happened without building that worker power from the shop floor. Our member leaders are the eyes and ears of our union and our first line of defense — and offense. Our members’ ability to tell their stories, take action together and demand change is the source of our union power. The other resources and structures of our union certainly help move campaigns forward, but it’s the members who lead and make the difference.
Many Members Lead
It can be exhausting to lead. Leading requires sacrifice and determination. The struggle for respect, to enforce our contracts and to continue working toward our shared vision of healthcare justice takes a toll!
It can involve many meetings and decisions and late nights. It takes studying our contracts and the painstaking collection of evidence and data. But we need to remember that the struggle is not one person’s alone or even that of one small group of members. We need many leaders to support one another and build our power. The more members who feel prepared to lead and take on some of the hard work, the more successful and sustainable our movement will be. That’s what solidarity — and a strong union — looks like.
Exercising Leadership
I encourage every member to attend a NYSNA member leader training. This training is how we learn to be advocates for one another through our union. NYSNA has expanded member leader trainings tremendously in the past year, but we can still deliver more training opportunities. Our goal is for every member in every facility and every unit to access this important training. Knowledge is power.
NYSNA’s leadership extends from the shop floor to our board of directors, where the experience of members from every part of the state is considered to shape our priorities and strategies. NYSNA statewide leaders look at the big picture by carefully looking at all the pieces that local and regional member leaders who have a seat at the table bring. Our Convention delegate structure gives NYSNA that ability, and our annual Convention gives us that opportunity to come together and address the most pressing issues facing our profession and our patients. Our most pressing issues are presented as resolutions that are debated. When the Convention delegates vote on resolutions, they are committing to work with NYSNA members to take action together on these issues.
The Convention is a great time for our existing member leaders to think about who else they can help build up as leaders. The “union difference” is not just about union workers having better wages, benefits, and working conditions than nonunion workers. The union difference also means that you are not alone — your union siblings are there to support you, share the load and have your back!
I’m so proud of how far our union has come, and I look forward to seeing our room full of leaders at our Convention in October. It’s truly exhilarating to see that sea of red when we’re all together and take the opportunity to think about the union as a whole.
Democracy in Action
We have engaged in a lot of democracy this year — from the NYSNA board of directors elections to National Nurses United officer and delegate elections to our NYSNA delegate elections. But Convention is where we put that democracy into action. We are not just talking about one facility, one region or one issue. When we come together, we learn from one another — sometimes realizing how similar our issues are and sometimes how different our challenges are. There is a tremendous diversity in NYSNA’s membership — and I believe that is our strength when we listen to one another and practice solidarity as a verb.
At the end of the day, we are all one NYSNA and more than the simple sum of our parts. When our members are knowledgeable, energized, ready to lead and united for our shared purpose, we are unstoppable.
