On the picket line

Nurses fight back!

As the New York City nurses’ strike enters its third week, the strength and morale of the 15,000 New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) members is high. Hospital executives have returned to the bargaining table and some progress is reported. The nurses have wide community support; notables including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Rev. Al Sharpton and Sen. Bernie Sanders have shown up on the picket line urging hospital executives to settle the nurses’ demands.

The pressure on hospital bosses just increased when 31,000 Kaiser nurses, members of United Nurses Association of California / Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC / UHCP), began their open-ended strike on Jan. 26. Public opinion is overwhelmingly supportive of the “heroes of the pandemic.”

The 750 nurses at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital in Mont Blanc, Michigan, have been on strike for almost 150 days! They are represented by Teamsters Local 332.

As the slogan goes, “If nurses are outside, there is a problem inside.” The desperate situation of the for-profit U.S. health care system has become more and more critical, and the nurses at the patient bedside are the “canary in the coal mine.”

National Nurses United (NNU), the nation’s largest nurses’ union, has led a vigorous campaign for Medicare for All legislation since before 2020. Focus shifted somewhat at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as the death toll rose; NNU advocated for proper personal protective equipment and compensation for nurses as hospitals continued to cut corners and put staff at risk.

Currently, recent cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act are further limiting access to care, especially among the most oppressed. Nurses rightly predict that hospital executives will compensate for the lack of revenue from these programs by cutting back any gains made regarding safe patient-nurse staffing ratios and working conditions, putting more of a burden on nursing staff.

Workplace violence has been at the forefront of NNU concerns. This will only get worse with nursing and ancillary workforce cuts. Nurses dealing with combative patients rely on each other and ancillary staff to assist in critical situations, prioritizing patient well-being.

Nurses union: ‘Abolish ICE!’

The murder of Alex Pretti, the Veterans Administration intensive care nurse brutally gunned down by federal agents for assisting an injured protester in Minneapolis, has galvanized the global nursing community. Nurses have organized protests and vigils in the U.S. and abroad. NNU issued a strong statement demanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) be abolished.

Now there are three open-ended nurses strikes across the country, totaling 47,000 nurses and health care workers on the picket line. According to the website, nurse.com, there are an additional six more pending nursing strikes brewing across the country.

These strikes differ somewhat from strikes in many other industries. While nurses want good benefits, fair compensation and work-life balance, their demands are broader. Nurses are fighting for oppressed communities, quality affordable health care for all and against the public health crises created by corporate greed.

Any gains from these strikes will benefit society as a whole and could accelerate the movement toward socialism, which where it has existed provides free, universal health care for all as a social priority.