NEW YORK NURSE: October/November 2007
NYSNA marked the golden anniversary of representing RNs for collective bargaining with a special address during the Convention Labor Day brunch by Cathryne A. Welch, NYSNA executive director from 1979 to 1985 and director of the Foundation of New York Nurses Center for Nursing Research.
“Our organizational heritage is unity,” Welch said, “united action to strengthen our profession, its members, and its services to society.” She described the rich history of the association and its struggle to promote the rights of nurses and protect patients, starting with the founding of NYSNA in April 1901.
“The small band of pioneering women who brought us into existence was part of a larger, visionary national and international movement to create a nursing organization to empower the profession to take control of its standards and play its proper role in shaping not only the standards and role of the profession itself, but of healthcare as well,” Welch said.
Welch traced the development of NYSNA and the transition of nursing from private practice roles to a predominately employee role. She also touched on the growing demand for – and ever-present shortage of – nurses.
“More than a century after our founding, we struggle still with these issues,” she said, “and our commitment to resolve them is unflagging.”
In addition to Welch’s talk, the celebration included a commemorative book for the occasion: “50 Years of Collective Bargaining.” The book is filled with detailed stories and photographs of the people and places that made nursing labor history in New York State. Copies of the book are available for free from NYSNA’s Communication Department at 800-724-NYRN, ext 275.