Nurses Demand New Agenda To Heal Nation
Wednesday, June 8, 2011(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Thousands of nurses and health care reform activists from across
America brought their fight for a healthier nation to Washington yesterday,
holding demonstrations outside the White House, the US Chamber of Commerce and
the US Capitol to make sure their message is heard loud and clear. “Hey
Chamber you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side,” yelled the activists
as they circled outside the Chamber briefly before heading to the Hill at noon,
where they rallied in Upper Senate park for over an hour chanting “Hey hey, ho
ho, Wall Street greed has got to go!” and “This is what democracy looks
like!” The nurses are linking enduring economic hardship to broad declines in
health and living standards for working families and called for a re-charting of
national priorities with a Main Street Contract for the American People. They
cited low wages, unemployment, hunger, substandard housing and declining access
to education and health care as the source of serious harm to communities across
the nation. “What is going on here now is totally obscene,” said Senator
Bernie Sanders (I-VT). “It is a national disgrace that the United States of
America is the only country in the industrialized world which does not guarantee
health care to all people as a right.” Sanders added, “The American middle
class is collapsing, poverty is increasing, the gap between the very rich and
everyone else is growing wider, yet Republicans say to cut programs for working
families and give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the top two percent. That
is insane. Health care must be a right of all people.” Registered Nurses and National Nurses United Co-President
Deborah Burger said that people are “working harder than ever, two or even
three jobs to make ends meet,” adding that it is often tied to a problem in
the household or extended family, such as sickness or unemployment. “Men in
their 50s, engineers who were laid off and living in my community, have given up
looking for work. There is nothing out there.” The Main Street Contract for
the American People calls for good jobs at living wages; guaranteed health care
for all; equal access to quality education; good housing; protection from
hunger; a secure retirement for everyone; a clean and safe environment; and a
fair and just tax system in which “Wall Street and those with the most wealth
pay their fair share.” – report/photos by Adam
Wright