Nurses, Teachers, Scour Yacht Club Tuesday to Expose Secret Wealthy Donors to Anti-Prop. 30 Campaign

Citizens should be allowed to vote on protecting the collective bargaining rights that enable nurses to protect patients and negotiate for safe staffing that saves lives, members of Michigan’s largest association of registered nurses said today.

MUSKEGON – The registered nurses at Mercy Health Partners-Hackley Campus have negotiated a new contract that improves patient-to-nurse staffing and creates a safe environment for nurses and patients. “Nurses know how many patients a nurse cares for at one time makes a difference in how well that patient can be treated,” said Cindra Bringedahl, an RN working in the Endoscopy unit. “Having appropriate staffing means that we will have enough nurses to take care of our patients.”

Private, not-for-profit hospitals, which dominate the California hospital landscape, rack up tax exemption benefits of close to $2 billion a year beyond what they return to communities in charity care, according to a new report released today.

Do California not-for-profit hospitals return an equitable benefit to the state and local communities for the huge tax privileges they receive for their nonprofit status? Do they provide sufficient levels of charity care? Are they publicly accountable? Are their actions adequately measurable and transparent?

Would Erode Voice of Nurses, Further Shift Policy Influence to Corporate Interests. Calling the proposal a “cynical fraud that would silence the voices of nurses and other workers in public policy,” the California Nurses Association today announced it is joining with labor, community, consumer, and good government organizations to oppose Proposition 32 on the state’s November election ballot.