NNU Statement on 2020 Election Process

Submitted by smaple on

The 2020 election will be among the most important elections in recent U.S. history. National Nurses United expects to be actively involved, with an emphasis on continuing to build a broad mass movement on critical issues, such as Medicare for All.
 
As to an endorsement in the Presidential contest, NNU’s elected national leadership, representing 150,000 registered nurses in all 50 states, has set forth a comprehensive process that is intended to emphasize extensive involvement of our leadership and NNU members.

That process will include:

  • A questionnaire and survey of all the candidates expected to begin this summer on a variety of issues that are a priority for our organization, including Medicare for All, workers’ and union rights, racial and gender justice, climate and environmental justice, workplace health and safety, voting rights, gun violence, and economic and retirement security.

Our concerns will also include confronting the growing wealth and income disparity, the alarming threats posed by racism, sexual harassment and assault, Islamophobia, homophobia and transphobia and attacks on people based on their race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, and immigration status.

  • A request for candidates to meet with our nurses to discuss these issues and how they would, as President, work to carry out their program.
  • Assessment of the preferences of our membership as a whole.
  • Encouraging all NNU members to register to vote and to participate in the political process to protect their rights and the future for their families. 

All of these factors will be determinative in any NNU endorsement. Other unions are following similar trajectories.
 
At the center of our endorsement consideration will be reversing the disastrous policies and course of the past two years that have undermined public protections, security for our diverse population, and presented a danger to our democracy.
 
Ultimately, NNU is guided by the vision that grassroots, mass movement, premised on solidarity, compassion, and justice, and participatory democracy, is the only way to achieve the transformative social change our nation needs.