The Big Four Disaffiliate from the United American Nurses

The Ohio Nurses Association, New York Nurses Association, Washington State Nurses Association, and the Oregon Nurses Association have all opted to disaffiliate from the United American Nurses (UAN). See http://www.uannurse.org/media/hot_issues.html?view=press_release&press_id=302. See also

http://www.ohnurses.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=258.

The UAN was the largest RN union in the country. I seriously doubt the UAN will be able to make that claim now that over 50,000 of its membership has disaffiliated.  These collective bargaining agreements were serviced at the state nursing association (called constituent members associations or CMAs now) level so there shouldn't be any interruption in services provided to RN union members.

2007 has been a year of surprises in nursing. Onward and Forward....What will 2008 hold for the profession of nursing?

Do you think national nursing unions are a thing of the past? Is there a need for national nursing unions?