Public Sector Nurses_3 3/17/11 9:26 PM Page 11
unemployment since the Great Depression, and is bearing a disproportionately greater share of our national tax burden than corporations and billionaires, the Republicans want more. They don't
believe anything or anyone should hinder their pursuit of making
more money.
What was unusual about Wisconsin was that people were not
just mad, but finally willing to do something about it. Perhaps
inspired by the mass Egyptian protests the month before, people
were willing to show up in the streets to demand better, not just for
themselves and their children, but for their neighbors, their kids'
teachers, and the guy who picks up their trash.
Unfortunately, the American people, and what's left of the labor
MARCH 2011
movement that's supposed to represent them, are a little out of
practice in fighting for what they want. Instead of organizing and
mobilizing the groundswell of popular energy to demand fundamental reforms, many public employee union leaders were all too
eager to concede to Walker's drastic takeaways in pay and benefits
in order to keep the right to bargain.
Enter the nurses of National Nurses United. While many unions
have been dying, we've been growing, fighting, and winning. The
people of Wisconsin needed our skills and expertise, pronto.
Dozens of our nurses from Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, California, and elsewhere rushed to Madison and quickly helped to
reframe the debate. Others rallied at solidarity protests in capitals
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
N AT I O N A L N U R S E
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