Keystone represents the false choices of the austerity era. Jobs VS the planet. Economic recovery VS healthy communities. Our money or our lives. The Robin Hood Tax will heal our environment AND our economy. March across the Golden Gate Bridge with 350.org, 350BayArea.org, National Nurses United, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Sierra Club, Sierra Club SF Bay Chapter, CREDO, Food and Water Watch, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, EQUAL Health Network, California League of Conservation Voters, Center for Biological Diversity, Keystone XL Action Council, UNITE HERE! Local 2850, Movement Generation, Bay Localize, Citizens Climate Lobby, Sustainable San Rafael, Global Exchange, and other environment and public health advocates to send this message to Wall Street and Washington, DC. Tax Wall Street to heal the environment

Wall Street Buying Main Street. First, they prize an economy with low wages and keep wages low for generations. Then they offer mortgages to families whose earnings would never afford them the opportunity to save and buy homes within their budgets. Next, they switch the bait and raise interest rates on the mortgage payments beyond what workers’ wages can meet. Defaults ensue and families are evicted—by the millions.

Today I ran into a Mexican restaurant to grab a quick lunch, and as I ate my meal I came across a table of nurses wearing hospital scrubs. As they chatted amongst themselves I thought about the many nurses my family has interacted with over the last five years, and I found myself filled with such appreciation for what these amazing women and men do for us.

Registered nurses at three St. Joseph Health System (SJHS) medical centers have achieved a tentative settlement with hospital officials on a new collective bargaining agreement that nurses say will bring significant improvements in patient care protections and healthcare security for nurses. The agreement between nurse and hospital negotiators, reached late Wednesday night, must still be ratified by the RNs who will vote on the proposals in membership meetings expected to be held next week. For more information, you can read the press release and news articles collected here.

Registered nurses reached a tentative labor deal with St. Joseph Health, St. Mary, according to a news release from the California Nurses Association on Thursday. RNs say the new collective bargaining agreement will protect RN-to-patient ratios in the Apple Valley hospital while also preventing increases in the cost of nurses’ health care coverage. “We made major improvements to our contract and gave nurses the tools to advocate for their practice and their patients,” said Ron Herron, a critical care RN at St. Mary, in a prepared statement. “We maintained affordable health care benefits which are critical to attracting nurses to our growing community hospital.”

Registered nurses at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, along with nurses from St. Joseph Health System medical centers in Apple Valley and Petaluma, announced on Thursday a tentative settlement with hospital officials on a new collective bargaining agreement. Susan Johnson, a registered nurse in St. Joseph's labor and delivery unit, said, in a press release from the California Nurses Association, that language improvements under the new agreement will create safer staffing conditions for both nurses and patients.

PETALUMA — Registered nurses at Petaluma Valley Hospital and two other St. Joseph Health–affiliated facilities today reached a tentative accord with hospital officials on a new collective bargaining agreement, the California Nurses Association said. The Oakland-based nurses’ union, an affiliate of National Nurses United, said the agreement “will bring significant improvements in patient care protections and health care security for nurses.”

The California Nurses Association, which represents about 170 nurses at Petaluma Valley Hospital, announced a tentative agreement Thursday with St. Joseph Health, which runs the hospital. CNA negotiators representing more than 900 union nurses at two other St. Joseph hospitals, St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka and St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, also reached tentative labor agreements. Nurses are expected to vote next week on whether or not to ratify the three-year agreement.

Did you know that in the U.S. “Workplace Wellness” has become a $6 billion industry? That’s how much employers pay vendors who sell workplace wellness programs designed to encourage employees to lose weight, lower their cholesterol, or stop smoking.. Today, firms lay out an average of $521 per employee per year on ‘wellness incentives’ such as gift cards for employees who shed pounds. That is more than double the $260 they spent in 2009 according to a recent survey by Fidelity Investments and the National Business Group on Health.