I am a nurse and I know how wealth is valued over the health of my patients with today’s recreation of an aristocracy born of speculation and no sense of community values. Since 2000, business interests alone have poured an obscene $1.7 billion into California campaigns to sway candidate and initiative campaigns. More »
It would be easy for voters, sick of the auction of California politics to the biggest spenders, to be tempted by the misleading advertising for Proposition 32. But all the ads for 32 ought to come with a warning label – beware of buyer’s remorse. More »
Again California "Special Interests" have a proposition on our November ballot. It is called the "Special Exemptions Act", better known as Proposition 32. And it gets a little confusing determining just who are those who will benefit from these "special exemptions". Perhaps this nurse's take on exactly what will this Proposition do for my patients might shed some light on the real agenda this proposition supports. It is NOT what it seems....Proposition 32, the Special Exemptions Act, touted as political campaign reform. Proposition 32 claims to be about stopping special interest money in politics, but it is really an attempt to deceive voters into passing a law that would change the rules to benefit wealthy corporate interests....at the expense of middle-class workers and unions. More »
“One thing I know. Social Security is so firmly embedded in the American psychology today that no politician, no political group could possibly destroy this Act and still maintain our democratic system. It is safe forever, and for the everlasting benefit of the people of the United States.” —Frances Perkins, on the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the Social Security Act (from the book, The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience). Good thing Frances Perkins is not hearing the disinformation from Washington and many in the media today claiming Social Security is going broke and that there is a “consensus” that cuts are needed in Social Security to reduce the federal deficit. More »
Who would you trust to make good governmental policy decisions for you and your family? Billionaires whose greatest priority is their own bottom line? Health insurance companies who have a track record of denying your claim for needed care prescribed by your doctor? Secretive Super PAC groups who can raise unlimited amounts of money to support and elect politicians friendly to their agendas? More »
Proposition 30 will leave a significant imprint on the future of California, whether big budget holes will prompt continuing on a debilitating path of more cuts in education, healthcare and other vital programs that are intrinsic to a humane society, or whether those who have benefited the most from income disparity will be asked to pay their fair share. Prop. 32, a threat to patient care. More »
Far too many of the patients and people in the community that I care for are suffering as a result of our broken economy. There is hope for them, and we all have the ability to help if we make an informed decision and vote wisely. Before we’re handcuffed by lethal cutbacks and before we become accomplices of injustice and the erosion of our right to protect one another, please join nurses in voting “YES” on Proposition 30; and, “NO” on Proposition 32! More »
The most troubling thing I heard last evening during the debate was that I could stop listening about the proposed changes to Social Security and Medicare if I was at or near retirement age. I’m not that selfish. I care that my children and grandchildren have those programs. I care so much that I have devoted my personal and professional energy to improving and expanding a 'Medicare for All for Life' model and making sure Social Security remains the sure and safe program that it has been for decades. More »
Essential social goods – political participation and access to necessary health services - are allocated based on ability to pay. When that happens, it’s easy to see who wins and who loses. The gains go to the top and the rest of us have to fight for what we need. More »
Trust me when I say that politics has become very personal this year; I’m a nurse. As nurses we ask our patients to “tell us where it hurts.” There are those who are too young and too medically fragile who don’t have the ability to utter a word; yet we see the result of an eroding social safety net etched on their faces and wreaking havoc on their health. It doesn’t have to be this way. More »
Did you ever forget to vote? Were you ever too tired after a long 12 hour shift to make it to the polling place? (And how do you vote when you work a 7am to 7pm shift and that’s only the time the polls are open?) Did a sick child keep you home, or a cranky kid make you too late to vote on the way to work? More »
If Prop. 32 passes, the California Hospital Association, which already has enormous influence in Sacramento, along with its allies in California Chamber of Commerce, insurance industry, and other corporate interests will be able to take dead aim at RN staffing ratios, meal and rest breaks, limits on forced overtime, oversight on hospital and nursing home abuses, and other workplace and patient safety protections – with little ability for nurses to use our collective voice to challenge them. More »
On Tuesday, October 2, the eve of the fourth anniversary of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) -- under which hundreds of billions of tax dollars were handed over to financial institutions deemed “too big to fail”-- the Robin Hood Tax Campaign and its allies in labor, health, religious and consumer organizations, will visit Congressional field offices in seven states to seek pledges of support for the “Inclusive Prosperity Act,” H.R. 6411. Join us! More »
CNA strongly supports Proposition 30 to generate critical resources for education, healthcare and public safety mainly through increased taxes on wealthy Californians. More »
Almost 30 nations have some form of a financial transaction tax and the U.S. had a similar tax from 1914 until 1966. The United Kingdom has had a tax on stock trades for decades – the same rate proposed in HR 6411 – and their volume of trading has grown robustly. Supporters of a form of financial transactions tax include business leaders such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban, and Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffet. More »
Proposal 2 would permanently protect collective bargaining rights for all Michigan workers, now and in the future. Making Michigan a state that guarantees workers the basic right to have a voice in the workplace is the most important issue of our time. More »
For many months, nurses, healthcare, environmental, labor, consumer, faith-based and other community activists have rallied on Wall Street, at banks and legislative offices, and outside the White House and Treasury Department, saying it is time to tax Wall Street to help revive our economy and nation.Robin Tax campaigners rally in New York City on September 17, 2012. More »
Nurses in Overland Park, Kansas, were savoring a win this weekend, as they reached agreement with HCA-affiliated Menorah Medical Center. Ratification of the new contract is expected this week in a deal that covers the facility’s 325 RNs. All are members of National Nurses Organizing Committee and National Nurses United (NNU). More »
Support Chicago Teachers! Call the head of Chicago Public Schools and Mayor Rahm Emanuel to support the teachers' demands. Tell them that teachers are fighting for the things that really matter in the classroom, like guaranteed limits to class size. TAKE ACTION! CALL NOW! (they're keeping a tally). Chicago Public Schools CEO J.C. Brizard (773) 553-1500 and Mayor Emanuel (312) 744-3300. More »
National Nurses United is extremely honored to welcome the decision of 600 Registered Nurses at three hospitals in West Virginia and Ohio to join the National Nurses Organizing Committee/NNU. RNs at Bluefield Regional Medical Center in Bluefield, W. Va., Greenbrier Valley Medical Center in Ronceverte, W.Va., and Affinity Medical Center in Massillon, Oh. voted August 30 and 31 to join NNOC/NNU. More »
