To protest the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline health care workers during this COVID-19 pandemic, registered nurses at Kaiser Modesto and Kaiser Manteca are holding an action and media availability during their shift change to describe current conditions and the need for more N95 respirators and other protective gear required to safely treat COVID-19 patients, announced California Nurses Association/ National Nurses United, the nation’s largest and fastest-growing nurses union representing 150,000 registered nurses across the country.

SEIU Local 73 and National Nurses United demand Cook County drastically reduce jail population

SEIU Local 73 and the National Nurses United (NNU) represent nearly 300 workers in the Cook County Department of Corrections and more than 300 professionals, nurses and other frontline healthcare workers in Cermak Health Services, who provide health care to Cook County detainees. Earlier this week, a Cook County Correctional Officer tested positive for COVID-19. This week, it was also announced that it spread to at least 17 unknown cases among detainees.

National Nurses United is stepping up pressure on hospital employers across the U.S. to provide safer facilities for health care workers and patients as confirmed coronavirus cases, and COVID-19 deaths, continue to skyrocket.

In recent days NNU has filed over 125 complaints with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) offices in 16 states charging individual hospitals with failing to provide safe workplaces, as required by law.

Today, North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), an alliance of fourteen affiliated unions collectively representing over 3 million skilled craft professionals in the building and construction industry, announced a partnership with National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union of registered nurses in America, to donate N-95 respirator masks and other protective equipment to nurses.