Get Involved
Bebs Nonato
RN Kaiser Sunset Los Angeles Medical Center

"Nurses understand the value of political action, and know it can be used to change the system."

Sept. 2000

The key issue facing nurses is an out-of-control patient-to-nurse ratio. On the medical surgical floor where Kaiser Sunset RN Bebs Nonato works, individual nurses are required to care for six or more patients at one time. "We feel like we can't do our job properly. We are constantly prioritizing. Patients are not seeing their care givers as often as they should. Sometimes you only see your patient once every six to eight hours," says Nonato. "That's not good for patients or nurses."

The surest way to address this problem, says Nonato, is to lobby the state legislature to pass legislation to regulate nurse-to-patient staff ratios. That is why she took time off from her job to get involved in the union's campaign to sign up members to the Local 535 COPE fund. COPE, the Committee On Political Empower-ment, is the union's political action fund. Law does not permit the use of member dues for political purposes, however 535 members can voluntarily contribute to the COPE fund. The suggested donation is $3.00 per month.

"We want the state legislature to pass Assembly Bill 675 to regulate staffing ratios. We have been warning Kaiser that current ratios are unsafe, but we need a law to mandate hospitals to keep these ratios at manageable levels," adds Nonato. "The state is the only body that can do this."

Over four days she visited every hospital shift at Kaiser Sunset, including evening and night shifts, and visited with nurses on their breaks. Nonato got results. She signed up over 100 nurses. "It was a very positive experience. Nurses understand the value of political action, and know it can be used to change the system."

Nonato is an active union member. She is a delegate on the statewide executive board representing the nurses' chapter, a shop steward, and chapter treasurer. She is also a member of the Kaiser Bargaining Team to negotiate the first-ever national agreement with Kaiser Permanente.

"I wasn't always this active. As a nurse, I could see something was wrong with the health care system. There were problems in our hospital. Everyone would go to their steward and complain, and grievances were back logged. With 900 nurses at Kaiser Sunset, stewards were swamped. I decided to get involved. I saw the union as a vehicle to improve our working conditions as well as an opportunity to educate myself. I attended steward training, learned a lot, and found that I enjoyed union work, especially union organizing, that is my heart and soul."

At first, Nonato didn't realize she was capable of doing this work. She was brought up in the Phillippines with the idea that a woman's place is to listen, not to speak out. "But I have always been a nonconformist with an independent streak that sometimes still gets me in trouble. Through the union I have learned my ideas have value, and I now have the confidence to do something about them. I now feel that I can accomplish what I set out to do. Union work is a good fit for me. It's opened my eyes and allowed me to do things I never imagined I was capable of doing."

Nonato's talents have not gone unnoticed by the international union. She has been sent around the country by SEIU to help the union organize nurses. She has been involved in organizing campaigns in Las Vegas twice, once for three months, La Cross, Wisconsin, and Battle Creek, Michigan. "It is exciting. I enjoy talking to nurses about the importance of getting together and fighting for their rights. I tell them, we will all probably be a patients one day. I let them know that nurses can accomplish a lot if they stick together. It's not easy to organize workers, but it can be exhilarating. Especially when you win."

Nonato never had any union experience until she joined Local 535. In the Phillippines unions were considered appropriate only for blue collar workers, not for nurses or other professionals. "Coming to the United States and working at Kaiser changed my mind set. I realized I am not only a professional, but a worker as well. In reality all nurses are workers. I evolved as a nurse, and changed as a nurse. Now I see myself as a worker, like any other worker, who needs and benefits from union representation."