Nurses push for single-payer, Free Choice Act
Dateline: May 13, 2009, Gregg Blesch, ModernHealthcare.com
The nation’s biggest nurse unions convened in Washington to push their case for a single-payer health system and national workplace regulations, including the stalled Employee Free Choice Act, a ban on mandatory overtime and minimum staffing ratios modeled on those in California.
The event, dubbed the National RN Day of Action, brought together the leadership and members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, the AFL-CIO affiliated United American Nurses and the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which have an agreement to merge, as well as the Service Employees International Union Nurse Alliance. The SEIU and CNA/NNOC, formerly bitter rivals, announced in March that they would work together.
Speakers included Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who announced she would introduce a bill addressing a host of the unions’ priorities, including funding for nurse education, minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, whistle-blower protections and mentoring of new nurses. Also speaking was Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who recently introduced legislation in the House that would mandate ratios.