Last Saturday, August 3, a broad coalition of labor, indigenous, health and environmental justice groups marched to the Chevron refinery in Richmond, California, marking the one-year anniversary of the explosion and fire that sent smoke billowing into the air and 15,000 area residents to the hospital with respiratory problems. Nineteen refinery workers were lucky to escape the incident alive.

See a collection of links to news stories about nurses in other nations, and how they are advocating for their patients.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association has filed a ballot initiative that would require one nurse for every four patients in medical or surgical units, one nurse for up to three patients in emergency departments and one nurse for every two patients in critical care units.

Expanding the nation’s Medicare program to cover people of all ages would save the government billions of dollars, according to a new study released Wednesday.

The nurses union at Ventura County’s public hospitals presented a letter of no confidence in management to the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. The nurses are in contract talks with county management. Eight of them spoke at Tuesday’s board meeting, complaining of insufficient staffing, low pay and indifferent management. An additional 40 or so people, including nurses and their families, sat in the audience in support.

BOSTON — A union representing Massachusetts nurses is pushing a ballot initiative designed to set limits on the number of patients that can be assigned to a nurse at any one time.

After more than a year-long failure to reach an initial contract, a U.S. District judge has ruled Barstow Community Hospital must bargain with its registered nurses’ representative or potentially face fines. A 10(j) injunction was levied against BCH last week and comes on the heels of a temporary restraining order issued against the hospital June 24. The two sides — Community Health System-backed BCH and the California Nurses Association union — have been at an impasse since the CNA was certified in June of last year as the RN’s exclusive representative for the purposes of collective bargaining.

See a collection of links to news stories about nurses in other nations, and how they are advocating for their patients in Peru, Israel, Brazil, New Zealand, and Argentina.