About the California Nurses Association/
National Nurses Organizing Committee

The California Nurses Association, and its national arm, the National Nurses Organizing Committee, is one of the nation’s premiere nurses’ organizations and health care unions. One of the fastest growing health care organizations in the U.S., CNA/NNOC presently has 75,000 members in 40 states, representing nurses at scores of hospitals, clinics, and home health agencies. Since 2000, over 19,000 RNs at 50 hospitals have elected to affiliate with CNA.

CNA/NNOC is a leading national advocate for universal healthcare reform, through a single-payer style system based on an improved and expanded Medicare for all. In 2007, CNA/NNOC is campaigning for single-payer legislation, HR 676 in Congress, and SB 840 in California.

Additionally, CNA/NNOC has attracted national and international acclaim for sponsoring the nation’s foremost RN patient safety law requiring minimum RN-to-patient ratios, the most effective solution in the U.S. for stemming the erosion of care standards in hospitals.

California was the first state in the nation to adopt RN ratios, but NNOC affiliates in Texas and Illinois are also working to win ratios and other patient protections in their states.

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sought to roll back the ratio law in 2004, CNA drew the world’s attention by successfully challenging the celebrity politician, then at the height of his popularity, and forging what became a broad coalition that defeated Schwarzenegger’s attack on the ratio law and a series of initiatives that targeted working people.

Other landmark laws sponsored by CNA include whistleblower protections for caregivers who expose unsafe hospital conditions, a ban on inappropriate personnel providing telephone medical advice, and increased funding for nursing education programs.

RNs represented by CNA/NNOC have many of the best collective bargaining contracts in the nation. CNA agreements are noted for enhancing the collective voice of RNs in patient care decisions, outlawing dangerous practices such as mandatory overtime, and dramatic improvements in retirement security for RNs and other provisions that are needed to retain career RNs at the hospital bedside and protect patients.

CNA/NNOC is also renowned for its advocacy for patients with programs that have helped hundreds of patients with information on how to respond to health care industry abuses, and assisted patients in bringing their stories to legislative hearings and the media.