Nurses Lead Lobbying For 'Robin Hood Tax'
Friday, November 1, 2013(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Spurred on by rousing speeches and favorable
opinion polls,
National Nurses United delegates led hundreds of activists into D.C. this week
to lobby for a tax on financial transactions. The “Robin Hood Tax” would
impose
a tiny tax on each financial transaction – the buying and selling of stocks,
bonds, derivatives and other financial instruments – and raise some $350
billion yearly that could be redirected to human needs. “The Robin Hood Tax
is
badly needed to secure new revenues to meet the vast unmet human needs of
people struggling in this country and around the world,” said NNU Political
Director Ken Zinn. “Health care, housing, food stamps, Social Security, mass
transit, infrastructure development, new construction and manufacturing jobs
and much more could get funded by a very small tax on Wall Street. We are
excited to see that this movement is gaining ground not only in the US but
around the world.” The nurses and their allies marched down Constitution
Avenue
on Wednesday following a day-long planning conference, then hit Capitol Hill to
campaign for the tax, which has been endorsed by the Metro Washington Council,
as well as the Amalgamated Transit Union, the Coalition of Labor Union Women,
CWA, APWU, IAM, UAW, the Chicago Federation of Labor and
more. - includes reporting by Press Associates; photo
courtesy NNU