National Nurses United

as the tipping point year when it became mainstream, and this year, 2012, as the time when the tax stands a good chance of being adopted by many countries. France and Germany are likely to pass such a tax soon. ���In every crisis there is a chance, and this crisis gives us the chance to regulate the financial sector,��� said J��rn Kalinski, director of lobbying and campaigning for Oxfam International in Germany. One question that others often ask NNU nurses, and that nurses ask themselves, is why American nurses, of all groups, are one of the main proponents of the Robin Hood tax? Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, summed it up in her presentation, ���One of the fundamentals of NNU is understanding the connection between patient advocacy with social advocacy. Nurses are advocating for [the Robin Hood tax] because our priorities are straight: Put citizens first. Put patients first. Human rights should not be if you can afford it.��� After getting fired up from such a diverse group of speakers, RNs then had a chance to put their advocacy into practice by participating in a massive rally at Daley Plaza in the heart of downtown Chicago. In the days leading up to the event, NNU had tenaciously fought Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel���s administration 11th-hour bid to move the demonstration from Daley Plaza to a much less-visible spot, and to prevent nurses from carrying signs or banners. NNU won, however, so on May 18, more than a thousand nurses, wearing matching red scrub tops, jaunty green Robin Hood caps, and waving flags, walked through the busy streets of downtown Chicago from their conference site to the plaza. They were joined by thousands of local activists and supporters of the Occupy movement who had come by bus from Massachusetts, New York, Portland, and Los Angeles in support. ���We are here to protest all the people that are taking all the money out of our economy,��� said Jean Ross, Minnesota RN and an NNU copresident. ���We want it back. We the 99 percent know what it���s about. We set an alarm. We work for a living. We don���t sit by a swimming pool and wait for our dividends to come in.��� And to spread their message in a fun way, the nurses performed a special dance in unison to the tune of ���Dancing in the Streets��� by Martha and the Vandellas, but the lyrics had been changed to ���Taxing Wall Street.��� A highlight of the rally was an exuberant performance by rock musician Tom Morello, activist and former lead guitarist of the band Rage Against the Machine. As his current musical persona, the Nightwatchman, Morello sang and played several protest songs he had written, as well as the complete lyrics to Woody Guthrie���s ���This Land is Your Land.��� Everybody sang along. ���It���s an honor to be here today in my hometown of Chicago with the nurses union,��� said Morello to the 16 N AT I O N A L N U R S E Clockwise from left: David Hillman from the United Kingdom, RN Linda Silas from Canada, and RN Mi Jung Han from South Korea explain how a global Robin Hood tax could help working people in their countries; the next generation of Robin Hood crusaders excited crowd. ���I want to thank them for standing up for free speech, for standing up for economic justice, and for standing up for me.��� Later that night, nurses were also treated to a show by another renown artist, actress Anna Deavere Smith, who performed a series of monologues of NNU nurses��� stories of suffering they are experiencing in their communities and own families���as well as her own material. Many nurses were moved to laughter and tears as Smith, adopting the voice of various characters, told stories of a rodeo rider with a hurt back, a Massachusetts nurse who had to intervene in her son-in-law���s case, Texas governor Ann Richard���s cancer treatments, and a South African nurse who runs an orphanage for children whose parents had died of AIDS. The next day, NNU nurses met to discuss the challenges and celebrate the victories they have made toward organizing themselves into a strong union of RNs. They heard from nurses across the country going through brutal contract fights, from nurses trying to save their public health systems, and from Veterans Affairs nurses doing their best for the country���s military men and women. Some of the most inspiring speakers were nurses from facilities who had recently unionized. ���I have never been union before, and I have to say, I have drank the Kool-Aid,��� said Dotty Nygard, a newly organized RN from Sutter Tracy Community Hospital in California. ���It is the most incredible feeling to know that you���re not in this alone.��� To close the assembly, nurses gathered to share ideas for how to build awareness and support for the Robin Hood tax, for the campaign to win Medicare for all, and for a broad program to improve social and economic justice in the country. ���We will not go away. This is just the beginning,��� Karen Higgins, the NNU copresident from Massachusetts told her colleagues. ���As nurses, we will never, ever walk away when people need us. We will never stop and we will continue to fight. We just keep growing stronger.��� W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G A P R I L | M AY 2 0 1 2

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