Information is power. Our mission at Portside is to seek out and to provide information that empowers you -- that empowers the left. Every day we search hundreds of sources to connect you with the most interesting, striking and useful material. Just once a year we appeal to you to contribute to make it possible to continue this work. Please help.
"Nurses and other health care workers in many countries still do not have the personal protective equipment (PPE) and basic safety precautions that they need to care for their patients safely,”
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and some of his organization’s largest affiliate unions are getting behind Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. But others are pushing Michigan Rep. Andy Levin, a former Service Employees International Union organizer.
"When nurses are not protected, the community is not protected," one California nurse said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders supports registered nurses in North Carolina as they work to make the union at Mission Health-HCA with National Nurses United.
Sanders will accept endorsement at a rally in Oakland, Calif. on Friday. "Bernie Sanders is, and has been, leading on Medicare for All through his advocacy and Senate legislation,” says Bonnie Castillo, the executive director of the nurses' union.
"The time is now to create a universal, single-payer, Medicare for All healthcare system in the United States," the economists wrote
Leaders must also know when it’s time for a new person to take the helm. To keep new blood flowing through the labor movement, older leaders have to make room for their successors, RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United, said.
“You have to get out of the way. You can’t just talk about it,” she said. “If you’re a leader, a strong leader, you step down and open that up to someone you believe reflects where this union needs to be.”
National Nurses United may be proof that unions are not all on their way out: Some are very much alive, although they may look a little bit different than they used to.
“Nurses United is among the most innovative and bold of U.S. unions,” said Harley Shaiken, a labor expert at Berkeley. “They’ve emerged as a powerful voice in defense of people who receive health care treatment.”
As burgeoning labor group and Franklin-based CHS grow, so do their differences.
Spread the word