National Nurses United

NewsBriefs:Public 8/15/07 3:29 PM Page 8 NewsBriefs This study paints a compelling picture of why Clean Money legislation is so vital to reforming our current political atmosphere. "Insurance companies, through their political contributions, have had a corrosive influence on the creation of full universal healthcare system that would provide Californians with comprehensive healthcare and eliminate billions in taxpayer money going into insurance company bureaucracies," says California Assemblymember Loni Hancock. Hancock, who last year endorsed Proposition 89, has introduced Clean Money legislation to the California Assembly multiple times, with one bill pending, to free the state's political processes of what is often considered legalized bribery. With the swarm of healthcare ideologies inundating the political arena today, it's easy for voters to get confused. IHSP breaks it down easily into two categories: marketbased plans and publicly-based plans. Market-based plans are what the majority of candidates and politicians today endorse. They espouse incremental reforms through measures such as requiring employers to contribute to healthcare costs (called employer mandates or "pay or play"), forcing individuals to buy insurance (called individual mandates), HSAs, and "boutique" healthcare—small clinics geared towards the wealthy private consumer. Recent news reports, as well as the Michael Moore movie SiCKO, show that market-based plans are little more than a Band-Aid on a gaping wound since insurers will do whatever it takes to avoid paying claims and weed out those who need care the most. Publicly-based plans, known as singlepayer plans, cover everyone with the same standard of care for life. Single-payer plans, such as those proposed in the federal bill HR 676 and the California bill SB 840, offer cradle-to-grave healthcare coverage regardless of income, profession, or preexisting conditions. A "publicly based, single-payer proposal is the only defensible exit from the nightmare—both financially and morally—and when asked, the public demands it," writes IHSP. "It is long past time for our Congress to begin listening to the public demand for medical justice rather than healthcare lobbying and political contribution dollars." Single-payer may be the cure not only to medical injustice, but to the epidemic of payto-play politics. Here's hoping everyone gets the cure they need. —erika larson 8 REGISTERED NURSE WRAP-UP REPORT Chicago, Ill. in early july, CNA/NNOC expanded its fight to save Chicago nurses' jobs into the legal arena after the Cook County Bureau of Health Services moved to lay off RNs despite warnings that it was breaking both labor law and its contract by refusing to negotiate with the union. Even though the county could not provide an accurate seniority list, an accurate list of vacant positions, or the adequate two-week notice to CNA/NNOC, it began notifying nurses of layoffs. CNA/NNOC immediately filed with the Illinois Labor Relations Board to block the downsizing, and that action is pending. Most RNs were relocated to other Bureau positions through the tenacious representation of nurse stewards and staff but the future of a handful of nurses' positions are unclear. The layoffs are part of a devastating 17 percent across-the-board budget cut spearheaded this spring by Cook County Commission President Todd Stroger. The defunding has hit frontline healthcare providers—doctors, nurses, and other caregivers—the hardest, and virtually shut down a network of community clinics that have taken the Bureau three decades to build. As a result, Chicago residents are not receiving the screening and primary care services they need to manage their chronic diseases and nip more serious conditions in the bud before patients wind up in the ER, where patients are experiencing up to 24-hour waits. CNA/NNOC nurses, with the help of a coalition of other Bureau union members and community activists, have waged a huge and public fight against the cuts. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas as an example of the energy and momentum growing among Texas RNs to get organized in fighting for patient care protections and their own rights, Dallas-Fort Worth nurses testified at a public hearing Aug. 15 on the need for ratios in intensive care units. The Dallas-Fort Worth Concerned Citizens Panel was led by State Rep. Roberto Alonzo and Dallas County Judge Gracie Lewis. They heard from W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G nurses and patients about the growing crisis in local healthcare, and encouraged community leaders to take serious steps to combat it. The "Mesquite 3," ICU RNs fired from their jobs at Dallas Regional Medical Center for challenging the hospital when it assigned additional patients to their load, spoke about the pressing need for safe nurse-to-patient ratios as well as the importance of whistle-blower protections for nurses who advocate for their patients. Other RNs in the Metroplex area commented on the condition in their local facilities and the role of profit in healthcare. Cities throughout Texas will be hosting other groups of nurses as the local metropolitan committees develop, and become more active and vocal. Marysville and Yuba City, Calif. the 500 nurses of Fremont-Rideout Health Group, just 40 miles north of Sacramento, are ready to go on strike to win a first contract since they unionized last September. RNs voted overwhelmingly in late July to authorize the RN negotiating team to call a strike if they cannot break the impasse they've reached with their employer over several deal breaker issues: having a union shop, banning floating into units beyond their expertise, and incorporating state safe staffing ratios into the contract. "Management's really not working with us at all," said Heather Avalos, an RN negotiator working in critical care at Rideout Hospital. "Most of our proposals we've rewritten over and over, and they've almost rejected every one of them. The nurses are very determined and angry." —staff report J U LY | A U G U S T 2 0 0 7

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