Tom Steyer ups climate change pressure on Obama
On Thursday, San Francisco billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer is launching a new online campaign Thursday in Washington, D.C. to turn up the heat on his friend President Obama to do more to take on climate change — starting with urging him again to oppose the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Called “We Love Our Land,†it will run at least 10 weeks and be based largely on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and later, Change.org. If some street demonstrations grow out of this, fine, organizers said, but that’s not the point. It is an argument aimed squarely at Obama supporters who are disappointed that he hasn’t done more on climate change.
Joe Garofoli for SF Chronicle
Poison in the Pipeline: The Toxic Risk of Keystone XL
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Independent lab tests of a sample taken from a tar sands oil spill earlier this year in Arkansas detected several highly toxic chemicals, according to a new report by Environmental Working Group commissioned by clean energy advocate and philanthropist Tom Steyer. “A single sample of tar sands oil included chemicals that cause cancer in humans and produce serious and permanent birth defects in children,†said EWG’s director of research, Renée Sharp. “These are the consequences the Obama administration should be weighing first and foremost before it makes its final decision on whether to subject millions of American families to the real risks that could come if the Keystone pipeline is approved.â€
Environmental Working Group
Jun 20, 2013
Colorful March on Golden Gate Bridge Today Highlights Push to Stop Keystone XL Pipeline
New Report on Toxic Chemicals in Arkansas Tar Sands Spill Emphasizes Health Hazards Linked to Controversial KXL Project Say Nurses. SAN FRANCISCO – In one of the most colorful protests yet against the Keystone XL Pipeline project, registered nurses from coast to coast, joined by activists from the nation’s leading environmental groups and other Bay Area activists will march across the Golden Gate Bridge today. The message to the Obama administration – stop the pipeline before it’s too late for our planet and our health. Today’s huge march comes as a new report was released today in Washington identifying seven highly toxic compounds that can cause cancer and developmental problems found in a sample from the March tar sands oil spill near Mayflower, Ark.
National Nurses United
Jun 20, 2013
Petaluma hospital nurses OK labor contract
Nurses at Petaluma Valley Hospital represented by the California Nurses Association have approved a labor agreement with St. Joseph Health, which runs the hospital, the union said. The deal gives nurses pay raises of 2 percent a year for three years but also reduces their stand-by pay, a St. Joseph's official said. The CNA represents about about 170 nurses at Petaluma Valley Hospital. The union contract also was approved by more than 900 union nurses at two other St. Joseph hospitals, St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka and St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley.
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
St. Mary nurses ratify labor agreement
APPLE VALLEY • After more than six months of negotiations, registered nurses at St. Joseph, St. Mary ratified a new collective bargaining agreement Wednesday, according to a news release from the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United. Local nurses joined others at the Eureka and Petaluma locations in the St. Joseph Health system in ratifying the deal after a preliminary agreement was reached earlier this month. “We are extremely pleased that the bargaining teams for the CNA union and our hospital have reached agreement on a new contract with our valued nurses,†said St. Joseph Health, St. Mary spokesman Randy Bevilacqua in a written statement after the preliminary deal. “As always, the focus of our clinical teams continues to be on providing high-quality, safe, compassionate care and service to our patients at all times.â€
Daily Press
St. Joseph RNs Ratify New Contract at Apple Valley, Eureka, and Petaluma
Registered nurses at three St. Joseph Health System (SJHS) medical centers have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement that will strengthen patient care protections and provide affordable healthcare benefits, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United announced today. Nurses won improved safe RN-to-patient safe staffing ratio language, successfully fought off substantial increases to their healthcare premiums, and secured removal of a punitive “wellness†program that recent studies have concluded fail to provide promised savings while penalizing employees who may have chronic health problems.
National Nurses United
Jun 19, 2013
Affinity nurses seek delay on electronic records
MASSILLON — Affinity Medical Center registered nurses are asking hospital officials to delay a new electronic health record system set to begin this weekend.
CantonRep.com
Nurses, Environmentalists to March on Golden Gate Bridge Thursday With Call to Stop Keystone XL Pipe
Nurses and environmental activists from across the U.S. are joining hands this week to step up the message that there is still time to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline before it stops all of us. Join us for a march across the Golden Bate Bridge in San Francisco Thursday, June 20, beginning with a noon rally at Battery East, near the Golden Gate Bridge Pavilion at Fort Point adjacent to the Bridge.
by Deborah Burger. First appeared in The Huffington Post
Retired RN Kay McVay Honored with 2013 “RAGE for JUSTICE†Award
Kay McVay worked as a registered nurse in critical care for nearly four decades before retiring in 1995. She is a tenacious and effective champion of patients’ rights who was elected and served as the former Vice President, and then President of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee from 1994 to 2003. As a young girl growing up in Compton, California, school counselors discouraged her aspirations to become a nurse. The rest is history.
California Nurses Association
Affinity RNs Call for Halt to Flawed Electronic Medical Records System Scheduled to Go Live Friday
Affinity Medical Center RNs in Massillon, Ohio are calling on hospital officials to delay the planned June 21 implementation of the Cerner electronic medical records (EMR) system, until the hospital bargains with the nurses and proceeds in a safe manner. The direct-care RNs, represented by the National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) in Ohio, an affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU), say that nurses, the primary users of the complex system, have had insufficient training, which will put patients at risk.
National Nurses United
Jun 18, 2013