Nurses from fourteen countries gathered in June 2013 for a conference hosted by National Nurses United, the largest union of registered nurses in the United States. The nurses shared similar stories of fighting austerity, privatization of public health services, attacks on public workers, and heartbreaking erosion of patient care standards and how these devastating policies are hurting their communities and impacting the health of their patients. 

The result – the formation of the action oriented Global Nurses United. 

Global Nurses United (GNU) provides organizations from the endorsing countries the ability to work collectively to guarantee the highest standards of universal health care, as a human right for all and to secure safe patient care, especially regarding safe nurse-patient ratios.

GNU is unified in opposition to the adverse effects of income inequality, poverty, attacks on public workers and the ravages of climate change. GNU members are strong supporters of the Millennium Development Goals but are demanding immediate action, and this means nurses need to speak up now!

The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions is a founding member of the GNU. Regular nursing news updates from around the world can be found on here the CFNU website.