From DC To Minnesota, Nurses Picket, Rally And Threaten Walk-Out

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

National Nurses Week kicks off with an informational picket tomorrow at 5p by nurses at the Washington Hospital Center, whose contract expires at midnight tonight. The nurses - represented by Nurses United of the National Capital Area -- are protesting to demand better staffing levels and challenge efforts by the hospital to roll back wages and change working conditions. Nurses in town for the National Nurses United legislative conference are expected to join the picketline on Tuesday and then stage their "Improving The Quality Of Care" rally on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, the largest nursing strike in US history could be just around the corner, as twelve thousand nurses represented by the Minnesota Nurses Union resist a plan by hospitals to cut pension benefits and make changes to work rules. A strike vote by MNU is set for May 19. Click here for a WINS report. National Nurses Week centers on the May 12 anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, often considered the founder of modern nursing. – photo: hundreds of Registered Nurses rallied on Capitol Hill during Nurses Week in 2009; photo by Chris Garlock