Resolution #3
BUILDING UNAC/UHCP POWER THROUGH MEMBER ENGAGEMENT, LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZING
1 WHEREAS:
2 Healthcare workers continue to confront challenges that threaten both patient care and the
3 well-being of caregivers, including chronic understaffing, burnout, workplace violence, and
4 corporate practices that prioritize profits over patients; and
5 WHEREAS:
6 The strength of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care
7 Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) comes from its members: the health care professionals who
8 organize, lead, bargain, mobilize, advocate, and take collective action to improve their workplaces,
9 their professions, and the care they provide to patients and communities; and
10 WHEREAS:
11 UNAC/UHCP has experienced extraordinary growth over the past decade and today
12 represents approximately 42,000 health care professionals in 42 affiliates and chapters across
13 California and Hawaii, demonstrating that health care professionals increasingly recognize
14 collective action and union membership as essential to protecting their patients, professions, and
15 economic security; and
16 WHEREAS:
17 UNAC/UHCP members have transformed that growth into collective power, with nearly
18 40,000 members participating in strikes and other collective actions over the last two years and
19 winning historic agreements that raised standards for patients, health care workers, and our
20 communities; and
21 WHEREAS:
22 This power is built through strong internal organizing, one-on-one conversations, active
23 workplace leaders, member education, and meaningful opportunities for members to participate
24 and lead. Strong internal organizing, in turn, builds the solidarity and leadership necessary to
25 organize new workers and grow our union; and
26
27
28 WHEREAS:
29 UNAC/UHCP’s Membership Matters Academy (MMA) creates a pathway from member
30 engagement to union leadership by providing members with education, organizing skills, and
31 hands-on experience that prepares them to become activists, stewards, Contract Action Team
32 members, Volunteer Member Organizers, affiliate officers, bargaining leaders, and leaders
33 throughout UNAC/UHCP and the broader labor movement; and
34 WHEREAS:
35 UNAC/UHCP’s Volunteer Member Organizers (VMOs) put member-to-member
36 organizing into action, recognizing that health care professionals who have experienced the power
37 of collective bargaining are among the most credible and effective organizers of other health care
38 professionals; and
39 WHEREAS:
40 As health care systems become larger, more consolidated, and more powerful,
41 UNAC/UHCP must continue to grow deeper and larger – deeper through greater membership
42 density, engagement, workplace leadership, and collective action within our existing bargaining
43 units, and larger by organizing nurses and health care professionals who do not yet have a
44 collective voice.
45 THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
46 That UNAC/UHCP reaffirms its commitment to building a member-led organizing union
47 in which member engagement, leadership development, internal organizing, and external
48 organizing are interconnected strategies for building lasting worker power; and
49 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
50 That UNAC/UHCP will strengthen Membership Matters Academy as a cornerstone of
51 member engagement and leadership development and create meaningful pathways for MMA
52 participants and graduates to put their skills into action through internal and external organizing,
53 bargaining and contract campaigns, political and legislative action, community engagement, and
54 leadership throughout our union; and
55 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
56 That UNAC/UHCP will continue to recruit, train, develop, and deploy Volunteer Member
57 Organizers, recognizing that health care professionals organizing other health care professionals
58 are among the most effective and credible messengers for the union movement; and
59 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
60 That UNAC/UHCP shall create and expand opportunities for Affiliate Officers, Chapter
61 Chairs, Volunteer Member Organizers, Membership Matters Academy, stewards, and other
62 member leaders to connect, share strategies, build solidarity, and strengthen our collective power
63 through mutual support, coordinated campaigns, and organizing efforts that grow our union; and
64 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
65 That UNAC/UHCP will continue to pursue an ambitious program of internal and external
66 organizing by strengthening our existing affiliates, increasing member participation and workplace
67 power, organizing unrepresented health care professionals, building density across employers,
68 health care systems, and professions, and raising standards throughout the health care industry;
69 and
70 BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
71 That UNAC/UHCP commits to building an organizing culture throughout every level of
72 our union – one in which every member matters, every member has a voice, every member has the
73 opportunity to lead, and every member has the power to organize so that the extraordinary growth
74 and collective action of the last decade become not simply achievements we celebrate, but the
75 foundation upon which we build the next generation of UNAC/UHCP power.
SUBMITTED BY:
Julie Eversaul, MS, RD, President and Delegate
Adia Gorham, Secretary and Delegate
Dietitians, Audiologists, Speech Language Pathologists and Health Educators (DASH)
Jennie Masaoy, RN, President and Delegate
Sonia Chesterfield, RN, Vice President and Delegate
Chino Valley Registered Nurses Association (CVRNA)
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION: ADOPTION
A/R COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION: ADOPTION
AS PASSED OUT OF COMMITTEE