WSNA Ends Affiliation with the United American Nurses

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It is with great sadness that we are officially notifying you of the recommendation and decision by the WSNA Cabinet on Economic and General Welfare, and subsequent acceptance by the WSNA Board of Directors, that WSNA no longer be an affiliate of the United American Nurses (UAN), AFL-CIO. These decisions were made on December 17, 2007 and the UAN was officially notified of this action on December 21, 2007. The New York, Ohio, and Oregon Nurses Associations took the same action in December 2007. Since that time, two other states have also disaffiliated from the UAN, New Jersey Nurses Association and Montana Nurses Association. These six states represent more than 65,000 registered nurses in state association collective bargaining agreements. WSNA and the other states remain constituent members of the American Nurses Association and we intend to maintain our state and national relationships with the AFL-CIO. As a member of WSNA, you will experience no change to the services you receive through your WSNA membership.

The difficult decision to disaffiliate from the UAN was reached only after extensive yet unsuccessful efforts to reconcile longstanding fundamental differences with the UAN, and only after an enormous amount of discussion and communication among our elected leaders, UAN delegates and WSNA local unit leaders. (Also see President Armstrong’s In Focus article.) Additional information will also be posted on the WSNA website and published in future issues of the Washington Nurse. If you would like to receive a chronology of the events leading up to this decision, please send your name and e-mail address to wsna@wsna.org.

This was not an easy decision, WSNA was a founding member of the UAN and WSNA remains committed to the value of a strong, national voice for nurses and the crucial role played by unity among nursing associations. We will continue to work within ANA and the AFL-CIO and alongside any state nurses association that values the principles of democracy and nurse unity to advance the economic and general welfare of nurses and promote the profession of nursing.

Jeanne Avey
Chair, WSNA Cabinet on Economic and General Welfare

Kim Armstrong
President, WSNA Board of Directors

Labor Relations

• Cabinet on Economic & General Welfare
• Significant Victories
• Local Units
• WSNA Disaffiliates from UAN