AFT Healthcare’s program and policy council (PPC) gathered in Monterey, Calif., in January to discuss its path over the next four years.

The council’s winter meeting began with a discussion of threats facing AFT Healthcare members, including proposed cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and state children’s health insurance, as well as issues for the labor movement in general.

“These are challenging times we are facing, and it’s time to think about who we are and what we need to do differently,” says Candice Owley, PPC chair and president of the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals.

With that in mind, the PPC considered a new vision for the union and the direction it will take. That vision is for AFT Healthcare to become “the recognized leader of a dynamic, unified national healthcare union movement.” Going forward, council members agreed to focus on several key areas: internal and external organizing; building political and legislative power; and becoming more vocal about healthcare.

Other major goals include aggressively recruiting more organizers and developing a public relations campaign centered on a particular healthcare issue, such as safe staffing.

Also, recognizing a pressing need to engage AFT Healthcare members in the state and federal legislative process, the PPC wants training for local members to help them better understand how their state legislatures work. That training should include techniques for lobbying and communicating with elected representatives.

In other business, the division has formed a task force with AFT Higher Education to address the shortage of faculty in schools of nursing. The AFT Nursing Faculty Shortage Task Force met for the first time in February. The division also is drafting a no-lift policy that would reduce injuries to healthcare workers and their patients. The policy would call on healthcare facilities to eliminate manual lifting or transferring of patients except in emergencies or life-threatening situations.

At the meeting, several new council members were welcomed, including Jemma Hanson, an executive board member of the New York State Public Employees Federation; Terry Myers, treasurer of Healthcare PSEA/AFT Local 5120; Mary Nash, president of Nurses United for Improved Patient Care in Kansas City, Mo.; Juanita Hogan, a school nurse member of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers; Jeanne Sedgwick, a school nurse and an executive board member of the St. Paul (Minn.) Federation of Teachers; and Debra Perry, a returning PPC member and president of AFT Healthcare Maryland.