National Nurses United

26 N A T I O N A L N U R S E 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 J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 "Your fight is our fight. We need to remember we are the many, and they are the few!" —Danielle Tiplady, U.K. National Health Service staff nurse and Royal College of Nursing activist "I don't get up in the morning and say I'm going to make political art. Some of us don't have the luxury of leaving our politics at the door. I make art because I want to say something and politics finds its way into the work." —Truong Tran, artist in "Recognition" exhibit at GNSA "One of the themes discussed at GNSA that is fundamental to me is the environment...How should we nurses, as the defenders of life and health, get involved? How can we effectively advocate so that our governments and our elected representatives move to protect the environment?" —Zoila Cotrina President, FEDEMINSAP, Federacion Nacional de Enfermeras del Ministerio del Peru "As labor activists, we are in a constant state of resistance because the Guatemalan government wants to eliminate the labor movement; they want to get rid of the trade unions, especially our SNTSG Union which is the largest in the health sector. We workers will continue to organize and fight every day against this oppressive system, a system that exists only to generate financial profits for a few, while causing pain and death for the majority of Guatemalans." —Luis Antuilio Alpirez Guzman, Secretary General, Sindicato Nacional de los Trabajadores de Salud de Guatemala "The speakers have been phenomenal, learning about all the struggles the nurses around the world have faced and that we are not alone in our struggle, that we've got so many nurses wanting to fight and change health care. I'm learning things here that I'll take back to my workplace and share with my fellow nurses. It makes me feel inspired to keep going and gives me strength to push forward." —Karen Pels-Jimenez, RN, Saint Rose Sienna, Las Vegas "Know in the United States, you are not alone. Health care is a human right. Never give up, never surrender, because we are standing side by side with you!" —Linda Silas, President, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions "We have been organized in how to think about people. Someone imagined a cage, imagined handcuffs. We get to imagine something radically different. I want to ask all of you to imagine a world where we aren't relying on policing and incarceration. We get to decide that." —Patrisse Cullors, Co-Founder of Black Lives Matter and Chairperson of Reform L.A. Jails "How can we improve unionization? Work with students. Speaking to those who will be future workers is so important; it's a stimulus for them." —Shirley Morales, Vice President, National Federation of Nurses Brazil "There's a narrative that [the U.K.'s National Health Service] is failing because of migrants. But it's actually under pressure because of public service budget cuts under a conservative government. Look around, politicians are trying to divide us. We need coordinated action; with all these people, we can do it!" — Rita Issa, U.K. doctor and activist A Whole New World Global Nurses, Global Voices "We'd like the global nurses movement to know that as Chileans we are actively working to strengthen the ties and alliances between us so that nurses can be heard — so we can share our experience, our wisdom, our sacrifice and our commitment to unionism and to the same demands that nurses are making all over the world." —Ninoska Gonzalez Flores, Federacions Nacional de Associaciones de Enfermeras de Chile "In Honduras, we see how our fellow citizens migrate day after day to the U.S. Who can survive with one dollar a day? That's why conditions are so precarious in Honduras. There are no health services, no basic services to access, and that really reduces our level of living. Hon- durans are dying. … Here, we are nurses, raising our voices, advocating for our people." —Josue Orellana, President of the National Association of Nurses and Healthcare Workers of Honduras

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