National Nurses United

NewsBriefs_OCT 12/27/11 2:26 PM Page 4 NEWS BRIEFS NNU Nurses Support Striking British Workers INTERNATIONAL O n nov. 30, registered nurses, teachers, sanitation workers, and millions of other people working in public-sector jobs staged the largest one-day strike the United Kingdom has seen in 30 years to protest government plans to slash their pensions. And on that day, National Nurses United registered nurses were right there with them, showing their solidarity by holding protests across the United States at the British embassy in Washington, D.C., as well as five British consulate offices in major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. Like workers in the United Kingdom, American public-sector workers are facing similar assaults to the pensions they've earned. "We put off wages to place it into a pension that is supposed to be there and should be there if it weren't stolen," said Jean Ross, RN and member of the NNU 4 N AT I O N A L N U R S E Council of Presidents, to the crowd at the Chicago rally. "Gentlemen, ladies: This is what solidarity looks like." As part of the action, NNU nurses delivered letters to the consulate offices expressing their support of striking British workers and asking the British government to "stop its attempt to make public-sector workers pay more and work longer to receive a smaller pension when they retire." "We urge your government to listen to the proposals put forward by the trade unions and negotiate in good faith so that government workers can retire in dignity," added the letter. Instead of cutting pension benefits, the government could, as U.K. trade Scan this QR code with your smartphone to watch a video of the protests. unions are advocating, pass a financial transaction tax to fund these kinds of social needs. According to The Guardian newspaper, the British government looked to have softened their bargaining stance in response to the 24-hour strike, dropping end-of-year deadlines for negotiations with publicsector unions over the pension reforms. NNU registered nurses inherently understand that an erosion of pensions in the United Kingdom would embolden U.S. governments to do the same here in this country. "We all know that an injury to one of us is an injury to all of us," said RN Rajini Raj to fellow demonstrators at the Washington, D.C. protest. "That's true whether we work side by side or there's an ocean between us." California Nurses Association Copresident Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, RN reinforced that message in her remarks to the San Francisco contingent that day. "Even though we all live in different parts of the world, we are all fighting for the same issues," she said. —Staff report 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 NOVEMBER 2011

• Cover