A corrupted political system based, like healthcare, on ability to pay

Submitted by oldAdministrator on
Essential social goods – political participation and access to necessary health services - are allocated based on ability to pay. When that happens, it’s easy to see who wins and who loses. The gains go to the top and the rest of us have to fight for what we need.
NNU Blog by: Michael Lighty

Baystate Franklin Medical Center Nurses Strike for Patient Safety

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Greenfield, MA – The registered nurses of Baystate Franklin Medical Center walked out of the hospital this morning at 7 a.m. to begin a 24 hour unfair labor practice strike, the first nurses’ strike in the history of the Greenfield-based hospital. The action comes at the end of a year of fruitless negotiations. The nurses were joined by community and labor supporters as well as by more than 100 nurses from hospitals across the state who share the nurses’ concerns for patients safety.
Massachusetts Nurses Association Press Release
Oct 4, 2012

Proposition 39 Endorsed by California Nurses Association

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SACRAMENTO -- The Yes on Proposition 39 campaign announced today that the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA) has endorsed Proposition 39, the November ballot measure that will close an unfair corporate tax loophole that has been costing California $1 billion annually.
Yes on Prop 39

State-Mandated Nurse Staffing Levels Lead to Lower Patient Mortality and Higher Nurse Satisfaction

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As mandated by State law, the California Department of Health Services requires acute care hospitals to maintain minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios. Required ratios vary by unit, ranging from 1:1 in operating rooms to 1:6 on psychiatric units. The legislation also requires that hospitals maintain a patient acuity classification system to guide additional staffing when necessary, assign certain nursing functions only to licensed registered nurses, determine the competency of and provide appropriate orientation to nurses before assigning them to patient care, and keep records of staffing levels.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Nurses urge Pelosi and others to back the Robin Hood tax

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The Inclusive Prosperity Act, or H.R. 6411, would establish a 0.5 percent tax on the trading of stocks, 50 cents on every $100 of trades and lesser rates on bonds, derivatives and currencies. It's being touted as the "Robin Hood tax" because it would generate an estimated $350 billion dollars annually that would go towards growing local economies, taking from the rich to help the poor.
San Francisco Bay Guardian

Clinton Urged to Support ‘Robin Hood’ Tax to Fund Climate

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A transaction levy, or “Robin Hood Tax,” could help fund $100 billion of climate change aid that developed countries have pledged by 2020, and extend to health care and education as well, the 63 groups said in a letter yesterday to Clinton that was e-mailed today by Friends of the Earth.
Bloomberg News

Vote “YES” on 30; Vote “NO” on 32

Submitted by oldAdministrator on
Trust me when I say that politics has become very personal this year; I’m a nurse. As nurses we ask our patients to “tell us where it hurts.” There are those who are too young and too medically fragile who don’t have the ability to utter a word; yet we see the result of an eroding social safety net etched on their faces and wreaking havoc on their health. It doesn’t have to be this way.
DeAnn McEwen, RN, CNA Co-President

Duggan Campaign Rewrites His Anti-Union History

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Potential Detroit mayoral candidate Mike Duggan’s campaign responded to concerns about the Detroit Medical Center CEO’s reputation as a union buster today with an astonishing string of falsehoods. In an interview on “First Shift With Tony Trupiano,” Duggan’s committee chairman Conrad Mallett Jr. made misstatements about multiple aspects of an organizing drive initiated by DMC nurses in 2007.
Michigan Nurses Association Press Release
Sep 27, 2012

Tele-Press Conference to Demand Deceitful New Ad be Taken Off the Air

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Citizens Protecting Michigan’s Constitution’s latest ad lies to attack Proposal 2. The 30-second ad falsely claims that Proposal 2 will block schools from removing employees with criminal backgrounds and remove safety standards for school bus drivers. “The last thing we need is parents worrying about the lies in this ad,” said Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon. “Proposal 2 won’t make it harder to protect our kids.
Protect Working Families