Why does the Minnesota Nurses Association get involved in Politics?
Though we realize that as an organization with 20,000 members, we’ll never all agree on every one of our political views, there are issues at stake that affect all of our practices, and we must be involved in politics and policy-making to ensure that nurses and the patients we advocate for have a voice at the table.
Like it or not, politicians play a huge role in shaping healthcare in general and the nursing profession in particular. For example, there will be a large push by Minnesota Nurses this fall urging state leaders to pass legislation aimed at curbing unsafe staffing incidents. Participating in MNA’s safe staffing campaign this fall and winter gives us the power and the universal voice to do what we do best – advocate for our patients.
How does MNA evaluate and endorse candidates?
There is an in-depth explanation of this on the MNA Web Site, but the short answer is this: Our nurse leaders look closely at a candidate’s position on issues that directly affect nursing, healthcare and working families. MNA endorsements are not based on party or ideological issues that are not related to nursing.
Why has MNA endorsed Mark Dayton for Governor?
Mark Dayton is the lone remaining candidate for Governor that supports our desire to see safe staffing legislation passed. He walked the picket lines with us to show his support multiple times during the Twin Cities contract negotiations earlier this summer. At the same time, Independence Party Candidate Tom Horner and his PR firm were busy masterminding the anti-nurse PR campaign run by the hospitals – one that portrayed nurses as greedy, irrational and overly emotional workers out of touch with economic reality. Tom Emmer has long been opposed to unions in general and is not at all supportive of the issues that are most important to the nursing profession; in fact he has said he won’t sign safe staffing legislation because he claims it will drive up costs without improving quality of care. Mark Dayton is the only candidate who trusts nurses, and believes us when we say there is a serious staffing problem in Minnesota’s hospitals.
We realize and respect everyone’s right to vote for whomever they’d like, and we encourage members to publicly debate which politicians and policies they favor in places such as this Blog or our MNA Facebook page.
In the meantime, we’d love to hear your thoughts on politics and nursing issues along with what you think MNA can do to engage more nurses in political and policy advocacy.
Recent Comments