The OPEIU Nurses Council Board of Directors will meet in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 22, 2012 for a Leadership Seminar to discuss issues of importance to OPEIU’s thousands of nurse members, as well as to the nursing industry as a whole. OPEIU represents approximately 33,000 nurses and other professionals in healthcare-related fields. 

The seminar will feature reports from the Council’s Chair Paige Yates, RN, Vice Chair Joan Craft, RN and Secretary-Treasurer Dina Carlisle, RN as well as an opportunity for board members to earn contact hours for continuing education credits with the lecture, “Safe Patient Handling & Ergonomics in Health Care.” A legislative update will also be provided by OPEIU’s Policy and Government Affairs Consultant Glen Rosselli, as well as a political report by OPEIU Political Director Kevin Kistler.

OPEIU has a long history representing the nursing profession. In 1998, the former Pennsylvania Nurses Association (PNA) affiliated with OPEIU, and today, nursing professionals continue to seek OPEIU representation. This is due, in large part, to the autonomy offered to these organizations, which allows them to be self-governing and administer their own affairs while affording them the protections and benefits offered by OPEIU membership. In 2010, for example, the Hawai’i Nurses Association (HNA) affiliated with OPEIU, adding more than 4,000 private sector Registered Nurses and health care professionals to our ranks. These health care professionals, now known as HNA/OPEIU Local 50 in honor of the 50th state, recognized that OPEIU was the organization to best represent their interests. It was a landmark decision for HNA, signaling an intention to take their rightful place in organized labor.
 

“There is strength in numbers, and nursing professionals realize that OPEIU has the strength to best represent them both in contract negotiations and in regards to patient safety, staffing ratios, and other industry issues,” said OPEIU President Michael Goodwin.