Two events in the past month have significant implications for unions of professional workers. The first event is the decision by the oldest and largest professional nurses’ organization to join the AFL-CIO, and the second is an anti-professional decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The labor division of the American Nurses Association--the United American Nurses (UAN)--is poised to be accepted as a new national

AFL-CIO union. The decision by the UAN, supported by the ANA, to join the AFL-CIO is good for nurses and good for the labor movement. By joining the house of labor, the UAN is sending a powerful message not just to nurses but also to all professionals that unionization is a strong and effective means of advocating for professional concerns.

While it is a good move by the UAN to join the house of labor, it is equally important for the AFL-CIO to welcome into its ranks a new union of nearly 100,000 professional workers, 95 percent of whom are women. In recent years, the AFL-CIO has made great strides in opening its doors to women and persons of color. The vote to accept the UAN sends a message to all women workers that the labor movement is their movement and that they, too, have an equal place at the table.

Just when nurses have overwhelmingly recognized the importance of unionization, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-to-4 decision, (the same 5-to-4 that voted on the Gore recount), put new barriers in the way of nurses’ organizing efforts.

In a decision called Kentucky River, the court held that nurses may be found to be "supervisors" if they give direction to nursing assistants regarding patient care activities. As "supervisors," workers do not have the protections of the National Labor Relations Act and legally can be prevented from forming or joining unions. AFT president Sandra Feldman is correct in her analysis that "nurses are not supervisors merely because they exercise professional judgment in the care of patients." This wrong-headed court decision, as our president has said, "fails to recognize that professional employees, including health care workers, are allowed to organize and, at times, direct others to get the job done."

In spite of the action by the court, nurses will not be deterred. As the health care system deteriorates, health care workers have taken to the streets and the airwaves to fight for quality care. Nurses are in the forefront of this battle. From Minnesota to Massachusetts, nurses are on strike demanding control over staffing issues and an end to forced overtime. The message from these nurses is that they have a professional and ethical responsibility to use their collective power to protect their patients and their profession. The decision by the 100-plus-year-old ANA, to stand proudly as an AFL-CIO union, reaffirms the fact that unions are right not just for blue-collar workers but also for legions of nurses who are uniting to enforce the standards of their profession.