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President’s Message – January 2015

January 2015

Ken Deitz (President)

It’s time again to take stock of the year past and take the measure of the year to come.

Organizing. United Therapists of Southern California ratified their contract and became our newest affiliate last year. Meanwhile, Corona RNs won recognition of their union and hit the bargaining table to negotiate their first contract. Delegates at our convention adopted the ambitious goal of growing our union in the next ten years by the same amount we’ve grown in our first forty years.

Bargaining and Representation. We won a historic three-day strike at Parkview in 2014, with hundreds of Parkview nurses braving triple-digit heat to win the first-ever wage grid there. Our legal team took on more grievances, arbitrations and NLRB cases than ever before, continuing to rack up victories. St. Francis RNs began their fight to continue to provide community services in Lynwood. 2015 will see that win, plus Corona’s first contract, plus potentially six Kaiser contracts—the national agreement and up to five local agreements: RNs, NPs and PAs; optometrists; SCNSC; KPMWON and UTSC. RNs at Beverly Hospital will return to the bargaining table to hash out their second contract.

Wider Leadership. As we grow, we continue to assert our leadership in the wider world. In 2014 we won awards from AFSMCE at the state and national level for our PEOPLE activism. Our steady, years-long push to toughen staffing ratio enforcement continues to pay off, with Governor Brown instituting new penalties for hospitals’ patient care violations, and DPH instituting our plan to survey hospitals annually for compliance with staffing ratios. We adopted a trail-blazing anti-bullying policy as a union. We took on a leadership role in the campaign to protect health care professionals from violence in our workplaces—which we’ll continue to push until we can deliver improvements in safety. We expanded our scholarship programs and named them in recognition of three UNAC/UHCP foremothers: Kathy Sackman, RN; Sonia Moseley, NP; and Delima MacDonald, RN.

How did we win in 2014? Solidarity as a union, across professions, facilities and affiliates. In 2015, we’ll continue to win the very same way.

In unity,
Ken Deitz, RN

Previous Messages

President’s Message – Fall 2015 Oct 2015
President’s Message – July 2015 Jul 2015
President’s Message – May 2015 May 2015
President’s Message – March 2015 Mar 2015
President’s Message – November 2014 Nov 2014
President’s Message – September 2014 Sep 2014
President’s Message – July 2014 Jul 2014
President’s Message – May 2014 May 2014
President’s Message – March 2014 Mar 2014
President’s Message – January 2014 Feb 2014
President’s Message – July 2013 Jul 2013
President’s Message – May 2013 Jun 2013
President’s Message – March 2013 Mar 2013
President’s Message – January 2013 Jan 2013
President’s Message – November 2012 Nov 2012
President’s Message – September 2012 Oct 2012
President’s Message – July 2012 Aug 2012
President’s Message – June 2012 Jun 2012
President’s Message – March 2012 Mar 2012
President’s Message – January 2012 Jan 2012
President’s Message – October 2011 Oct 2011
President’s Message – July 2011 Jul 2011
President’s Message – June 2011 Jun 2011
President’s Message – April 2011 Apr 2011
President’s Message – February 2011 Feb 2011
President’s Message – December 2010 Dec 2010
President’s Message – September 2010 Sep 2010
President’s Message – July 2010 Jul 2010
President’s Message – March 2010 Mar 2010
President’s Message – January 2010 Jan 2010
President’s Message – November 2009 Nov 2009
Testimony at the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee Meeting Aug 2009
Kathy J. Sackman | Make a Difference Video Aug 2009