National Nurses United

allowing privatization of their healthcare infrastructure and transna- tional healthcare corporations to enter their healthcare markets. The result: a shift toward the American model of "all the healthcare you can afford" as well as an erosion of union rights, protections for work- ers, and protections and standards for patients. Judith Kiejda, RN and assistant general secretary of the New South Wales Nurses' Asso- ciation, described how her government is limiting pay raises and stripping their Industrial Relations Committee, a body that acts as an independent umpire for disputes between unions and employers, of its arbitration powers. Linda Silas, RN and president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, said that nurses there were "preparing for the battle of our lives to save the public health system" from priva- tization. Jayne Hornby, a nurse active with UNISON, the United Kingdom's leading public service union, reported the same situation for the National Health Service, where a "Health and Social Care" bill was passed in September that completely reorganizes the public sys- tem to open it up to private-sector providers. Soon Ja Na, RN and president of the Korea Health and Medical Workers Union, summed up the global situation neatly. "It is a war against the people," said Na. "Essentially the situation in Korea is not much different." KHMU and NNU have issued joint statements oppos- ing the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which would open up the Korean market to U.S. healthcare corporations and financial services. In their campaign for a Main Street Contract, nurses at the con- vention this year began recognizing people who have consistently fought for working people, deciding to award its first "Main Street Hero" award to Michael Moore, the award-winning documentary filmmaker who has trained his camera lens on subjects such as the offshoring of American jobs, gun violence, the Iraq war, and the health insurance industry's stranglehold on American healthcare. A longtime ally of nurses, Moore was received by the nurses with cheers and a standing ovation. He also entertained the nurses by singing and dancing on stage. "This is better than an Oscar," he told the crowd when he received his Main Street Hero award. He went on to commend the RNs for taking on the corporate finance sector and try- ing to pass a financial transaction tax. "This new initiative you have to pass a law to tax Wall Street, this is so necessary. Your movement on it is genius." At the 2011 convention, delegates of NNU unani- mously passed a resolution calling for a sweep- ing set of reforms to address the economic crisis drowning American families, and pledged to step up their campaign for a tax on Wall Street financial transactions to pay for Main Street reforms such as living wage jobs, healthcare for all, the eradication of hunger and homelessness, good public schools, and a secure retirement. "In my practice as a staff nurse in a down- town Boston teaching hospital, I am seeing the effects of this crisis every day," said Massachu- setts RN Ann Marie McDonagh to her fellow nurses at the convention. "More and more sick patients are coming through our doors sicker and sicker by the day. A nurses union must do so much more than just negotiate fair pay and decent working conditions. It must use its power to promote the overall well being of its members and the public they care for." From top left: Film- maker Michael Moore signs his recently published book for RNs from Michigan, his home state; California Gov. Jerry Brown addressed the nurses; Nearly 1,000 RNs rallied for a Wall Street Transaction Tax near the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco 14 N A T I O N A L N U R S E Convention_REV 2 10/11/11 10:09 PM Page 14

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