For Immediate Release
October 18, 2011

National Nurses calls for tax on Wall Street to heal America

The Texas branch of National Nurses United, the largest union and professional association of direct-care registered nurses in the nation, will be holding a march and rally in support of Occupy San Antonio on Thursday.

The gathering of nurses from across the state this week marks the fifth anniversary of the formation of the Texas nurses organization which has grown to 2,500 RNs in six hospitals. NNOC-Texas is currently in contract negotiations with Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) -affiliated hospitals around the state.

 The Texas National Nurses Organizing Committee/NNU has been actively supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement in locations throughout Texas and the nation. The organization’s support is based on the shared goal of holding Wall Street accountable for the devastation it has caused on Main Street.  

What: Nurses March to Alamo in Support of Occupy San Antonio
When: Thursday October 20, 2011—1:00 P.M.
Where: March starts from Granada Homes 311 S. St. Mary’s

“As bedside nurses we see the effects of a bad economy on our patients every day,” said Judith Lerma, an RN from a downtown San Antonio Hospital hospital. “I work in a cardiac unit and see younger and younger people coming in with heart attacks because of  stress, as well as older people not taking their medications due to costs. We live in a nation that has the resources to provide quality healthcare to all of its citizens. We know that to heal America we must tax Wall Street.”

Over the past several months, the NNU has taken the lead in a national campaign to Make Wall Street Pay, sponsoring actions and setting up first aid tents, to escalate the call for a tax on Wall Street financial transactions to help fund jobs, healthcare, education, and a healthy environment.

Nurses warn that without an FTT and other efforts to support jobs, quality health care, education, retirement, housing, and for protection from hunger – our Main Street Contract for the America People, (www.MainStreetContract.org) millions of Americans will continue to suffer the effects of an on-going recession.

In June, NNU members, joined by labor and community activists, rallied in support of such a tax on Wall Street across from the New York Stock Exchange, and outside the U.S. headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C.

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