When Nurses Week rolls around each May, our employers predictably trot out the pizza parties, free lunch totes, and all manner of cutesy promotions and prizes to show how much they “appreciate” and “value” us registered nurses.

But National Nurses United RNs are not so easily fooled, nor bought off. Our nurse members, and the activist nurses we are allied with around the world through Global Nurses United (GNU), always use Nurses Week as an opportunity to remind the public about what nurses really want and what we stand for as patient advocates.

We don’t want doughnuts and free pens; we want safe staffing ratios so that we can actually care for our patients the way they deserve, workplaces without violence, and lift teams and equipment to save our backs. We stand for a just healthcare system for all that eliminates the profit motive from providing people with what we consider a human right, so we oppose privatization of services and the starvation of public health services and the public sector. We know a healthy planet means healthier people, so we stand for a world not reliant on the burning and extraction of fossil fuels.

“We have a slogan in NNU, ‘Save one life, you’re a hero. Save 100 lives, you’re an RN,’” said RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of NNU. “Yet too many hospitals treat this as a moment to give nurses balloons or candy while seeking to drive down patient protections and nurses’ livelihoods every other day of the year. Let’s honor nurses every day by once again treating hospital care as a caring, public service, not just another Wall Street-type institution.”

Leading nurse and healthcare union organizations in 11 countries across the globe held coordinated actions that week to highlight global efforts to improve patient care protections, oppose cuts in healthcare services, and stop the erosion of nurses’ workplace and living standards that are under attack in many countries.

In the United States, NNU held rallies in Washington, D.C. on May 12 to urge passage of mandatory, minimum nurse-to-patient ratio legislation and to call on the federal Veterans Administration to stop the bullying of registered nurses. Nurses also lobbied Congress in support of legislation to mandate minimum nurse-to-patient ratios across the country and for full collective bargaining rights for nurses employed at the Veterans Administration. California and Minnesota nurses used Nurses Week as a chance to lobby legislators in support of various bills to protect patients.

“We are here today to celebrate international nurses’ day.But more importantly, we’re here to take action as nurses to make our values as nurses a reality—values of caring, compassion, and community,” said Touko Leuga, a registered nurse in the medical/surgical unit at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, the largest hospital in the District of Columbia.“It’s time for the DC Council to step up by moving forward on the Patient Protection Act. The health of our patients depends on it.”

Australian nurses, through the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives’ Association and the Queensland Nurses Union, pushed for safe staffing ratios in their country through demonstrations and other public events. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions launched its federal election campaign May 12 with the slogan “Vote care, not cuts” to defend and shore up the country’s Medicare system. In Europe, the Greek healthcare workers union PASONOP also called for safe RN-to-patient staffing ratios to address dangerous understaffing in Greek hospitals and for better funding of the Greek healthcare system. In Ireland, the Irish Midwives and Nurses Organisation held a press conference calling on the government to restore nurses’ pay and working conditions that have been cut due to austerity measures that have defunded the healthcare system.

the healthcare system. Throughout the Caribbean and South America, registered nurses held many different actions. In Brazil, RNs met with legislators to lobby for a 30-hour workweek and held other events honoring nurses. In the Dominican Republic, the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de Enfermeria visited the Dominican Congress to demand that it approve a salary increase for all public and private employees, including nurses. On May 12, multiple nurses unions held a vigil outside the National Palace to demand President Danilo Medina comply with the agreements signed since October 2013, in which health insurance is guaranteed to pensioners, transportation among others.In Paraguay, the Asociación Paraguaya deEnfermeríaheld a mass mobilization in front of the Ministry of Public Health in Asuncion on May 8 to defend the law that respects nurses’ rights and professional practice.

In the Philippines, the Alliance of Health Workers held protest actions May 7 calling for a national minimum wage, decent jobs, and a ban on contract labor.And on May 11, the union demonstrated before the House of Representatives with demands for decent jobs for nurses, better pay, and working conditions. In Taiwan, RNs joined other labor unions and marched for improved working conditions, including less overtime and better pay. ns, including less overtime and better pay.

“This great series of actions represents the dedication of nurses and other healthcare workers worldwide uniting to protect patients and the health of our nations,” said Karen Higgins, RN, co-president of NNU.