Blog

With the next budget fight looming, tell Congress don’t push Grandma off the cliff

With the hostage taking of the current crisis has passed, a budget conference committee will be convened whose charge will be further deep cuts beyond the much detested sequester cuts negotiated late last year. And, there’s already “bipartisan” consensus that a central target of those knives will be two of the most important social reforms in U.S. history, Social Security and Medicare.

Karen Higgins, RN, NNU Co-president

NNU Nurses Win Historic Victory at MedStar Health!

After three arbitration decisions by two separate arbitrators and a federal judge’s order, hospital management has entered into a settlement agreement with nurses represented by National Nurses United to repay nurses for nearly all increases in out-of-pocket costs and premium increases for calendar years 2012 and 2013. The reimbursements will be applicable to NNU members at Washington Hospital Center who enroll in the company’s Care First healthcare plan.

National Nurses United

Global Nurses Step Up Campaigns on Health Care, Climate Fight

With the multiple threats of attacks on health workers, efforts to privatize public health services, austerity budget cuts especially in health care, widening inequality, and the effects of the climate crisis including escalating epidemics, nurses around the globe are stepping up coordinated efforts to fight back.

Global Nurses United

The True Price of Gas in Torrance

"A plume of smoke blanketed the city of Torrance Wednesday, Feb. 18 after the ExxonMobil refinery explosion jolted local residents. It shook homes and schools, ripped through the city like an earthquake, injured workers, and rained ash that covered sidewalks with black soot. When nurses arrived to see the damage, the toxic air caused them nausea and choking that persisted through the day.

Kate Usher, National Nurses United

What Nurses Really Want

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.

National Nurse Magazine

Nurses join with partner environmental groups to demand climate justice now

More than 1,200 California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee registered nurses, environmental and healthcare activists, and students on Dec. 3 marched and rallied in Los Angeles to demand that the world’s leaders, now convening in Paris for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, adopt a binding and enforceable climate treaty, commit resources to fund the transformation to clean, renewable energy including a just transition program for those who now work in the fossil fuel industry, and call on wealthy, developed countries to provide resources for the less-developed countries to act on climate, with funding coming from a carbon tax and the Robin Hood tax.

National Nurses United

Nurses fighting for Medicare For All on DNC Platform

Our Healthcare In America correspondent Donna Smith urges all to contact Democratic National Committee about omission or refusal to include Medicare For All on the DNC Platform.

Pattie Lockard, Nurse Talk Radio

California’s Prop. 61 Offers Opportunity to Take on Big Pharma

While the world is watching the Presidential race Tuesday night, another election battle in California provides a window in the ability of voters to challenge corporate power – in this case one of the most abusive industries in the world, big pharma.

RoseAnn DeMoro writing for Common Dreams

A Conversation With NNU Co-President Jean Ross About The Keystone Pipeline

The corrosive tar sands oil that is extracted, transported, and refined for the Keystone project is a major contributor to climate change.

Pattie Lockard, Nurse Talk Radio

Patient Support During Kaiser Negotiations Inspires Nurses

Nurse Talk Radio visits with RN and Co-President of NNU, Deborah Burger about the current Kaiser negotiations. 18,000 Kaiser RN's are successfully reaching out to patients to let them know the nurses are fighting for them and it's making a difference.

Pattie Lockard, Nurse Talk Radio