Media Advisory
October 21, 2011

With a growing international call for a tax on financial transactions to heal global economies, National Nurses United will bring the demand to the doorstep of the U.S. Treasury Department November 3 calling on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the Obama administration to get on board, and to end lobbying efforts at home and abroad against a Wall Street tax.

The Washington protest begins with Lafayette Square rally at 11:30 a.m. RNs are also asking people to call the White House, 202-456-1111, and to demand the Obama administration support the global movement for a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT).

Concurrently, an NNU delegation will join with other nurses from around the world at the G-20 Summit of world leaders November 3 in Cannes to also make the case for an FTT. The protest in Cannes is an international effort initiated by NNU and the global union federation Public Services International (PSI).

“It is long past time for Secretary Geithner and President Obama to get on board with other world leaders in supporting this common sense approach to raise badly needed revenues to help fund the critical programs we need to revive the U.S. and other global economies,” said NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro.

Nurses marching on Wall Street in June, calling for an FTT to heal America

Leaders of NNU, the largest U.S. union and professional association of registered nurses, will join nurses from across the globe to press for a tax on global financial institutions to help pay to revive the economic health of the U.S. and other countries.

With mounting calls initiated by labor, environmental, community, and non-governmental organizations, the European Commission has proposed a European wide financial transactions tax on bond and stock trades that could raise hundreds of billions of dollars a year to help address poverty, fund sustainable jobs and environmental policies, and strengthen quality public services. With support from even conservative governments in Germany and France, a proposal for adopting FTTs is expected to be on the agenda at the G-20 summit. But the Obama administration, and Geithner have been a major impediment.

Geithner, former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, was referred to as “our man in Washington” by one top banker ” according to Ron Suskind in his book “Confidence Men,” and has been actively lobbying European finance ministers to oppose the FTT – a key reason why NNU nurses will march to the Treasury Department on November 3.

NNU members have been rallying for a tax on trades of stocks, bonds, currencies, credit default swaps, and other major Wall Street transactions, for months, including marches by over 1,000 nurses and allies in June on Wall Street in New York, and in Washington.

“A meaningful Wall Street tax in the U.S. could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to help create a new economy for our nation, one premised on healthcare for all, good jobs at living wages, full funding for quality public education, a healthy environment, and other programs that would revive our communities and nation,” DeMoro says.

In France on November 3, NNU and other PSI members will join with the International Trade Union Confederation and other allies, including Oxfam, in a colorful action at the G-20 Summit in Cannes where nurses will take symbolic emergency measures and inject an FTT to resuscitate the ailing global economy. NNU is affiliated with PSI which represents 20 million public service workers in 150 countries.