Saying that housing is a basic human right, about 75 protesters gathered in downtown Oakland Wednesday as part of the new Homes for All campaign. The grassroots movement, launched with similar events in 11 cities nationwide, asks President Obama and other elected leaders to develop a plan to expand and protect affordable housing. —SF Chronicle, 03/14/13 More »
If there’s any label that has lost all meaning it must be “non-profit” hospital. Long gone are the days when hospitals were small institutions, focused on patient care, and run by local boards accountable to their local communities. Today, most “non-profit” hospitals are part of mega corporate chains, operated in secret by corporate executives whose dedication to the bottom line far exceeds their dwindling interest in community service. —Capitol Weekly, 03/12/13 More »
At a time of record corporate profits, U.S. "corporate tax dodgers" are parking more of their profits offshore, taking advantage of tax loopholes to shield billions from U.S. taxes, according to new analyses in the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. —Common Dreams, 03/11/13 More »
March 1, 2013 - Lawmakers in Minnesota and the District of Columbia are considering nurse staffing bills, with a goal of improved patient safety and quality of care. The legislation is based on research studies that have shown how a nurse’s workload impacts adverse events, patient satisfaction and other quality indicators. —NurseZone.com, 03/05/13 More »
The Michigan Nurses Association joined Democratic lawmakers Monday in their push to make Michigan the second state to mandate hospital staffing levels, but hospital officials expressed concern the requirement could backfire due to higher costs. —LSJ.com, 03/05/13 More »
Area nurses and healthcare advocates met in Worcester with the Health Policy Commission on Friday to fight against mandatory overtime practices being used at local hospitals to skirt the issue of poor staffing. —GoLocalWorcester, 02/25/13 More »
A state judge has temporarily halted plans to close the financially ailing Long Island College Hospital, giving a victory to hospital workers who say that its closing would be devastating to community health care. —The New York Times, 02/25/13 More »
The president’s State of the Union message may have sort of resolved the question: “Will he or won’t he touch Medicare? The answer: he probably will, a conclusion based on his cryptically grand rhetoric. The president called for those who care deeply about Medicare to “embrace the need for modest reforms—otherwise our retirement programs will crowd out the investments we need for our children.” Vague enough! —Columbia Journalism Review, 02/14/13 More »
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) plans to introduce such a bill Tuesday, he announced at a news conference Monday, where nearly 200 nurses wearing red scrubs packed a room in the John A. Wilson Building as union leaders and local politicians led them in chants of “patients over profit.” —The Washington Post, 02/04/13 More »
When the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled Friday to overturn President Obama's recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, it handed a huge gift to Wall Street, big corporations and the politicians they control. —San Francisco Chronicle, 01/28/13 More »
Business reporter Alana Semuels talks with nurses union organizer David Johnson and UC Berkeley Prof. Harley Shaiken about why labor unions are growing in California but not the nation. —Los Angeles Times, 01/24/13 More »
America is dangerous to your health. A recent international commission reported that U.S. men rank last in life expectancy for the 17 industrial nations in the study; U.S. women rank next to last. When it comes to health, the United States is exceptional — exceptionally bad. —The Washington Post, 01/16/13 More »
Columnist Colleen O'Connor explains why Rose Ann DeMoro, the director of the nurses union, is more powerful than any woman in California but the governor's wife. A month into the new year and it is obvious who the 2013 Person of the Year in California will be: Rose Ann DeMoro. —PowayPatch.com, 01/16/13 More »
Chicago, IL – More than two hundred union leaders and activists gathered in Chicago for the Labor Campaign's fourth national conference to strategize about next steps for labor in the movement to win universal health care. With government officials from both major parties contemplating cuts in Medicare as part of a "grand bargain," delegates resolved to stand up to any cuts in this cornerstone social insurance program. —Labor Campaign for Single Payer Health Care , 01/14/13 More »
BROCKTON -- Nurses union leaders are hopeful they will see changes at the Brockton Multi-Service Center after sitting down with the state’s mental health commissioner. —EnterpriseNews.com, 01/14/13 More »
In a California Healthline Special Report by Kenny Goldberg, experts discussed whether hospital workers should be required to obtain vaccines for influenza. Hear what Zenei Cortez, co-president of the California Nurses Association has to say in this audio interview. —California Healthline, 01/14/13 More »
THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. — A group of northern Minnesota nurses will rally in Thief River Falls on Friday in support of a legislative proposal that would set minimum staffing levels at hospitals across the state. —Minnesota Public Radio, 01/10/13 More »
America may be one of the richest countries in the world, but its people are less healthy and more likely to die early from disease or accidents than those in any other affluent country, a damning official US report has found —The Guardian, 01/10/13 More »
When you decide not to get a flu shot, the risk is that you or someone near you will get sick. But for health care workers, the price is increasingly a pink slip. Hundreds have already been fired. —USA Today, 01/10/13 More »
AUSTALIA--The NSW Nurses Association has said it will campaign for mandatory staffing ratios in more areas of the health system when the NSW nurses industrial award expires in June. —Newcastle Herald, 01/10/13 More »
