Former East Rockaway resident named to new position. Long Island Herald, September 9, 2010 Arizona Nurses Association (AzNA), the largest professional association of registered nurses in Arizona, announced that former East Rockaway resident Robin (Borger) Schaeffer, MSN, RN, CNE has been hired as executive director. Schaeffer was selected after an intense search among highly-qualified applicants following the current director’s announcement that she will retire. ... Nurse

Angela Gonzales, Phoenix Business Journal, September 4, 2009

A mega-union with 150,000 members nationwide is swooping into Arizona with hopes of organizing nurses throughout the state.

Various unions, including the California Nurses Association and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, have tried and failed to organize nurses in Arizona in the past several years. Organizers hope to change that by merging to provide a unified voice and more powerful national movement.

Casey Newton, Arizona Republic, February 13, 2009 Valley nurses hit the Capitol on Thursday to ask for mandated nurse-to-patient ratios that they say would increase patient safety. About 60 RNs lobbied for House Bill 2186, which would ensure a nurse was not assigned to more than five patients anywhere in the hospital as well as establish protections for whistle-blowers who expose unsafe conditions. The bill's sponsor, Representative Phil Lopes, said the legislation would improve patient care. "We've got way too many people going to the hospital and getting sick from things they did not come to the hospital with," said Lopes, a Tucson Democrat. ... Valley

National Nurses Organizing Committee, February 12, 2008 Phoenix - Registered nurses from throughout Arizona will hold a major rally this Thursday, February 14 in a bid to improve the state's healthcare by passing a key patient safety bill. After the rally, they will form "Heart Teams" and lobby legislators to pass HB 2041, legislation that would make Arizona hospitals safer by guaranteeing safe nurse-to-patient ratios, protecting the right of nurses to act as whistle-blowers against unsafe conditions, and offering legal recognition of the professional and moral obligations of RNs to act as patient advocates, solely in the interests of their patients. ... Arizona

HB 2041 Sets Safe Nurse-to-Patient Staffing Ratios, Ability for Nurses
to Advocate for Urgent Patient Safety Measures. National Nurses
Organizing Committee, January 4, 2008 Phoenix - Arizona registered
nurse leaders today announced the historic introduction of major
legislation to make Arizona hospitals safer for patients and strengthen
the ability of RNs to expose unsafe conditions and advocate for patient
protections. HB 2041, the Arizona Patient Protection Act, is sponsored
by House member Tom Prezelski at the request of the National Nurses
Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association. ... Arizona

PrimeNewswire, Inc., July 2, 2007 Phoenix - Two nurses in Arizona have brought class action complaints in US District Court against the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association and 12 other Arizona hospital corporations, charging that for years they have conspired to lower the wages paid to temporary nurses at hospitals throughout Arizona. The lawsuits charge that the hospital association - known as AzHHA - has coordinated the conspiracy by administering a registry program, used by many hospitals in Arizona, that was originally designed to improve nursing quality, but was turned into a cartel to depress nurses wages. AzHHA, with the active support and participation of many Arizona hospitals, controls much of the market for nursing services, and has forced nurses to accept low wages. ... Arizona

Ken Alltucker, Arizona Republic, June 28, 2007 Tracy Chavez has some advice for those who plan to check out the documentary Sicko. Bring an open mind and a box of tissue. The Arizona nurse is one of dozens of Valley health care workers who plan to use the film's release today to bring attention to the state of the nation's health care industry. "Those who have never had any health issues, they really have no clue how bad our health system can be," said Chavez, who has been a nurse at St. Joseph's Medical Center for 23 years. "Those who have never been exposed to the system will be appalled by what they see." ... Health

Mike Sunnucks, Business Journal of Phoenix, June 28, 2007 A number local groups plan to host screenings of filmmaker Michael Moore's new documentary on the US health system. The Maricopa County Democratic Party and a group of Phoenix nurses affiliated with the California Nurses Association will host screenings of Moore's film "Sicko." The left-wing filmmaker examines issues including private insurance coverage, how America's profit-based, private health system compares to government-run systems that offer universal care in Europe, Australia and Japan. The nurses will host a screening of "Sicko" on June 29 at the AMC Ahwatukee 24 theaters. ... Democrats

KVOA News 4, February 7, 2007 Flagstaff - The National Labor Relations Board has upheld a ruling that said intimidation of nurses in the run-up to a union vote at Flagstaff Medical Center was serious enough to invalidate the vote rejecting the union and require a new election. Last year's vote was tainted by the actions of hospital President Bill Bradel and other executives, who repeatedly intimidated nurses by suggesting annual merit increases would be frozen if the unionization effort was successful, a labor board hearing officer ruled in September. That ruling was upheld by the full board on Monday, clearing the way for a new election. ... Flagstaff

Jodie Snyder, Arizona Republic, October 21, 2006 You're a nurse, and you're thinking about working at one of the John C. Lincoln hospitals. Debbie Hansford and Norma Lineback can give you the straight scoop right from Three-South unit. The two veteran nurses will work a phone bank Sunday to answer questions about working at one of Lincoln's two hospitals. Hospital officials said they believe it's the first time this type of nurse-to-nurse talks has been used to help with hiring. ... Recruiting

Art Thomason, Arizona Republic, October 19, 2006 Lauretta Holt says she is ready to return to the Philippines to find relief for the hospital's nursing shortage. With a cure for Arizona's nursing scarcity years away, hospital recruiters like Holt, a nursing director at Banner Baywood Medical Center, are casting their nets globally because domestic schools aren't providing enough to fill the gap. At Banner Baywood, the nursing shortage is forcing the hospital to open a new addition in phases over the next several months to ensure that there are enough nurses. There are 633 registered nurses, but there is also a turnover rate hospital officials say in the "low teens," down from 30 percent over the last six years. ... Banner

Wage warnings by hospital broke law, NLRB says. J. Ferguson, Arizona Daily Star, September 20, 2006 An official with the National Labor Review Board has ruled that administrators at Flagstaff Medical Center repeatedly violated labor laws weeks before nurses voted whether to unionize. The finding invalidates the results from a two-day vote in June and would have forced the medical center, known as FMC, to hold a new election in the fall, but an appeal of the ruling by FMC will delay a new election until next June. In June, nurses opted against union representation for the second time in three years by a 242-211 vote. FMC officials were quick to point to a long history of the NLRB siding with labor organizations (sic!) and vowed to appeal. ... A win

Jodie Snyder, Arizona Republic, June 24, 2006

By a vote of 242-211, nurses at Flagstaff Medical Center have decided against becoming members of one of the country's fastest-growing nurses unions.

The secret-ballot election to join California Nurses Association was taken this week. About 90 percent of eligible nurses voted in it.

Hospitals around the state closely watched the campaign at northern Arizona's largest hospital. ... Chuck Idelson, spokesman for the nurses group, said it expected to file complaints with the National Labor Relations Board about the hospital harassing nurses and would try to have the election overturned. ... Nurses

Melanie Evans, ModernHealthcare, June 23, 2006

The California Nurses Association's national organizing arm, the National Nurses Organizing Committee, held its second union election since its formation and lost, about a year after successfully organizing 1,800 nurses in Illinois. Nurses at Flagstaff (Ariz.) Medical Center voted 242-211 to reject the union. ... CNA

Nurses could become first to unionize in Az in decades.
Associated Press, May 29, 2006

Flagstaff Medical Center nurses will decide next month if they will become the first unionized Arizona private hospital nurses in decades.

The 550 nurses will vote June 21-22 on a proposal to join the California Nurses Association.

The union gained a high profile for going head to head with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his unsuccessful effort to keep nurse-to-patient safety ratios from going into effect. ... 550