Each of the AOM’s will function
autonomously with their individual officers and board. They will be
housed with ANA, share services and purchase services from ANA. They
will have representation on the ANA Board of Directors. Effective July
1, 2003, the UAN and CAN became the fire AOM’s of the newly restructured
ANA. Both of these organizations wil continue to hold unique positions
with the ANA since the new bylaws allow for only one AOM for collective
bargaining and one AOM for workplace advocacy.
In addition to the constituent member
associations (CMA’s such as Georgia), other types of memberships were
approved by the bylaws include Organizational Affiliates (OM’s),
Individual Membership s (IMD) and Individual Affiliates (IAD). An
Organizational Affiliate is a national or foreign nursing organization
the meets criteria established by the ANA Board of Directors. The
Individual Members shall be a registered nurse who elects to join ANA
directly. This membership is contingent upon an agreement between the
state nursing organization (GNA) and ANA for the residents of the
state.. The IMD may also be a UAN nurse who is not a member of the state
organization. The last membership type is the Individual Affiliates who
is a registered nurse (RN) who has a license in at least one state,
territory, or possession of the United States. The Organizational
Members and Individual Members have representation to the ANA Board of
Directors as designated in the bylaws. The Individual Affiliate will be
entitled to access specific designated areas of the ANA website and to
ANA benefit programs, as specified by the ANA Board of Directors. The
Individual Affiliated will not have ANA Board of Directors
representation.
“These new pathways to membership have
big advantages for ANA, individual nurse and the nursing community
because they will allow ANA to be more inclusive of all nurses,” stated
Barbara Blakeney, President ANA.
The continued affiliation between ANA
and UAN and between ANA and CAN results in representation of the
interests of the nation’s nurses. ANA will continue to focus on the core
issues of the profession, including the nursing shortage, appropriate
staffing, safety/advocacy, ethics and standards, while the newly formed
AOM’s, UAN and CAN, provide workplace services for individual nurses.
In addition to the new membership
categories, reflecting the rights of members constituencies to
participate in governance, while enabling UAN and CAN to function as
autonomous but connected organizations. The new bylaws also clarify the
roles of the HOD and the ANA Board of Directors.
The delegates also approved a change
in the schedule of the House of Delegates. ANA will continue to annual
House of Delegates through 2006, then the HOD will be on a biennial
schedule.
These changes are proposed to
strengthen ANA ability to do the work of nursing and advocate for the
nation’s 2.7 million nurses.
Now GNA will be working on bylaws to
reflect the changes for approval t the GNA convention in October.
