Letter: Does union's values reflect communities'?

October 6, 2008 - 10:51 PM

Having read articles on the California Nurses Association (CNA) and our local hospitals, I began to wonder why the A-D has not followed the money trail of union dues.

The CNA spends sizable funds and time on lobbying our state Legislature. Just check out the Web site at www.calnurses.org, specifically CNA’s legislative activities and proposition endorsements, and you will see CNA’s core values many of which do not reflect our communities’ values.

Examples include CNA proudly proclaiming support of: AB 2747, the euthanasia-assisted suicide bill;  AB 16, the HPV Vaccine bill, as originally proposed, for girls as young as 11, to be required to take, before entering school or day-care programs; and abortion, while conducting organizing efforts at Catholic Health Care hospitals to confront the Catholic Church’s position on surgical and chemical abortions.

While conducting these activities, CNA at the same time opposes Proposition 4, “Sarah’s Law,” which would require that a parent be informed before someone could commit an abortion on their minor daughter, and Proposition 8, regarding the integrity of marriage being between a man and woman in the covenant of matrimony.

Having worked with legislators and lobbyists in the past, I am familiar with unions like CNA taking members’ dues and funding special interests that often do not reflect the core values of the membership. Are these positions noted above what the members hold or what the CNA leadership holds for their agenda?


Chuck Page

Yuba City