On Tuesday, October 2, the eve of the fourth anniversary of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) -- under which hundreds of billions of tax dollars were handed over to financial institutions deemed “too big to fail”-- the Robin Hood Tax Campaign and its allies in labor, health, religious and consumer organizations, will visit Congressional field offices in seven states to seek pledges of support for the “Inclusive Prosperity Act,” H.R. 6411. Join us!

If Prop. 32 passes, the California Hospital Association, which already has enormous influence in Sacramento, along with its allies in California Chamber of Commerce, insurance industry, and other corporate interests will be able to take dead aim at RN staffing ratios, meal and rest breaks, limits on forced overtime, oversight on hospital and nursing home abuses, and other workplace and patient safety protections – with little ability for nurses to use our collective voice to challenge them.

CNA strongly supports Proposition 30 to generate critical resources for education, healthcare and public safety mainly through increased taxes on wealthy Californians.

Almost 30 nations have some form of a financial transaction tax and the U.S. had a similar tax from 1914 until 1966. The United Kingdom has had a tax on stock trades for decades – the same rate proposed in HR 6411 – and their volume of trading has grown robustly. Supporters of a form of financial transactions tax include business leaders such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban, and Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffet.

Proposal 2 would permanently protect collective bargaining rights for all Michigan workers, now and in the future. Making Michigan a state that guarantees workers the basic right to have a voice in the workplace is the most important issue of our time.