R
egistered nurse members of National Nurses United held
actions across the country on Jan. 13—including a candlelight
vigil in Washington, D.C. for nurses who lost their lives to
Covid-19 and a national virtual press conference—to demand the
hospital industry invest in safe staffing, and to demand that Pres-
ident Biden follow through on his campaign promise to protect
nurses with a permanent workplace health and safety standard on
Covid and prioritize public health.
NNU nurses emphasized that the Biden administration has ripped
away critical protections from health care workers and the public, with
the Centers for Disease Control weakening Covid isolation guidelines
and the failure of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to
issue a permanent standard to protect nurses and other health care
workers from occupational exposure to Covid-19 (see "Nurses continue
to fight for OSHA permanent standard" on page 6). RNs also noted that
being left unprotected
by the government and
by their profit-driven
hospital employers,
which have failed to
invest in safe staffing
and provide critical
health and safety pro-
tections, has created
such unsafe working
conditions that nurses
are being driven away
from the profession.
16 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 A N U A R Y | F E B R U A R Y | M A R C H 2 0 2 2
We're
not
gonna
take it
RNs hold national day
of action to protest
short staffing crisis,
no permanent OSHA
standard on Covid
