National Nurses United

D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4 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 A T I O N A L N U R S E 9 MINNESOTA N urses and community members braved record cold temperatures and filled the sidewalks around a Minneso- ta hospital in November to raise awareness about the hospital's contract proposals that would put patient safety at risk. RNs at Cambridge Medical Center, represented by the Minnesota Nurses Asso- ciation, are standing up to one of the state's largest hospital chains, Allina Health, and refusing to accept concessions and changes that could lead to unsafe staffing after several months of negotiations. "We are calling on the hospital to agree to a fair contract that puts patients over profits," said Katie Williams, RN and co- chair of the Cambridge bargaining unit. "Allina is asking us to make unreasonable concessions on top of staff cuts already imposed. We are saying 'no' to proposals that disrespect the important work nurses do and threaten the quality of care our patients, who are our families, friends, and neighbors in this community, now receive." Community members are rallying behind the RNs. "We support our nurses" signs are in yards and businesses throughout the city. Many community members marched with the nurses, brought hot drinks and food, and cheered the picketing nurses on Nov. 20. Nurses have also taken their case to local officials, urging area city councils to support nurses and encourage the hospital to agree to a fair contract. Nurses are concerned that hospital proposals will result in fewer nurses taking care of more patients at one time, taking away nurses' ability to provide patients with the quality care they deserve. "We are standing up for a contract that makes sure nurses can do what we do best - care for our patients," said Williams. "We want a hospital that attracts and keeps quality nurses." —Barb Brady Minnesota RNs picket and rally Cambridge community against unsafe staffing, contract concessions Nurses, the report notes, have a "unique role in fighting both the causes and effects of climate instability" in public reporting of the health dangers, providing a credible public source to challenge the fossil fuel industry, and helping to unify climate and health activists to push for real solutions. That's been a major goal of NNU, and Global Nurs- es United, which NNU co-founded. Unlike the somber EPA official in "The News- room," Klein does see openings for stemming the global catastrophe. She notes, for example, the global emergence of grassroots, broadly based movements of activists who have confronted the climate destroyers in such disparate locations as a tourist destination in Greece, a First Nation in eastern Canada, the Niger Delta region, the Russ- ian Arctic, the widespread protests over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, and the massive climate march in New York in September that drew 400,000 people, far more than expected. Historic fights against slavery and colo- nialism were also viewed as daunting, but became the genesis of winning social change movements, Klein notes. Moreover, the inex- tricable link between the climate crisis and the global economic crisis offer an opportu- nity to build broad-based, social movements to effectively challenge both, she concludes. Klein cites the writing of slavery historian David Brion Davis who observed "abolition- ists understood their role was not merely to ban an abhorrent practice but to change the deeply entrenched values that had made slavery acceptable in the first place." "Only mass social movements can save us now," writes Klein. "We will not win the battle for a stable climate by arguing, for instance, that it is more cost-effective to invest in emis- sion reduction now than disaster response later. We will win by asserting that such calculations are morally monstrous since they imply that there is an acceptable price for allowing entire countries to disappear." The global economic crash of the past decade has heightened opposition to "market fundamentalism," Klein maintains, as seen in multiple forms, such as student movements of Chile and Quebec, Occupy Wall Street actions, and a "squares movement" that saw city centers taken over by demonstrators for months. That's the hope she ends with. "It is slowly dawning on a great many of us that no one is going to step in and fix this crisis. If change is to take place it will only be because leadership bubbled up from below." —Charles Idelson

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