St. Paul, MN – At 7 a.m., April 20, over 300 nursing home workers from five nursing homes walked off the job and began a three-day strike. The striking workers are represented by SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa and have been in negotiations for their next union contracts.

The strike includes workers from Cerenity Care at Humboldt, which is owned by the Benedictine Living chain, as well as workers from Estates of Saint Louis Park, Estates of Fridley, Estates of Roseville and Estates of Excelsior, all of which are owned by Monarch Healthcare Management.

The workers are striking for higher wages, safe staffing, better benefits and because that management has not bargained in good faith throughout contract negotiations, for which the union has filed unfair labor practice charges.

Rhonda Little is a striking worker and lead cook who has worked at Cerenity Care at Humboldt for ten years. Speaking on the picket line, Little said, “We want more money. We want safe staffing and we want to keep our PTO. We are bargaining for a new contract and it is not going very well because our management doesn’t want to move, they don’t want to do anything, they want to just stay at 1.5% [pay increases] and we’re worth way more than that.”

Little has been on strike three times in her ten years at Cerenity but says that this time, “The entire management team are different, even corporate are different. So it’s a whole different way of fighting now and their answers to everything is just ‘no’ instead of trying to compromise to a deal. Our strike, I think a lot of it is about respect. Care for your employees as much as we care for the residents. We have been called heroes, during COVID right, we are called heroes because we care for people, we are taking care of human beings, but we are paid like we are dog walkers, so yes it its about money but the bottom line is respect.”

This strike is a three-day strike set to end on Wednesday April 22, however when asked what they will do if management doesn’t come back to the table and bargain in good faith Little said, “Push for another strike and push them for more!”

#StPaulMN #MN #Labor #Healthcare #Nursinghome #Strike #SEIUHCMNIA #SEIU #Featured

San Jose, CA – On March 18, over 300 members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which includes mental health professionals, clinicians and therapists, participated in a one-day strike at the Santa Clara Medical Center. The action was part of a larger strike across Northern California, which included over 2400 workers.

“We’re really trying to keep Kaiser accountable,” union member Ania Saeger said. “Our contract expired last September, and we're not making a lot of progress in the negotiation, especially around the language, with artificial intelligence, collaboration and really protections for our jobs.”

A reason for the strike was Kaiser’s improper implementation of artificial intelligence. For those in mental health, contact and a relationship between the patient and the counselor is crucial. Saeger explained how AI disrupts this relationship, stating, “You used to be able to call if you were a patient, [when you] needed something. We have this position that we rotate throughout the day, a counselor that is available throughout business hours. Kaiser changed it. They developed this call center where you cannot call the clinic directly. Patients are redirected and get frustrated; they either get a phone operator or AI to answer.”

Saeger emphasized that while the counselors and therapists were not opposed to AI assisting their jobs, they wanted assurances in the language of their contract that AI would not replace their jobs. This is language that Kaiser has refused to implement in their negotiations.

When asked how community members could support the NUHW in their contract struggle, Saeger answered, “Our patients have been instrumental to this movement. We have patients speak at our rallies. As human beings, we can relate stories, so we want our patients to get their stories out there.”

The strike also included a program at which the California Nurses Association, another union striking in solidarity, spoke. Pomaikai Neil, a nurse and representative of that union stated, “Kaiser wants to save money on the backs of healthcare workers. As registered nurses, we feel the pressure to work harder with less resources every time we miss our meal breaks, when we are told we will do the same job with less staff, or when we do grueling 16 hour shifts to make sure our patients are safe.”

Neil also stressed the issues posed by AI in the mental health field. “Imagine sharing your emotional information with your therapist and having them ask you if an artificial intelligence device can join in? Heavy usage of artificial intelligence can exacerbate psychosis and create dangerous relationships with unregulated technology.”

Neil continued, “The hallmark of mental health is human connection. A robot cannot learn empathy. CNA nurses stand with NUHW in their fight against the unilateral implementation of AI and we demand that Kaiser address the limited access to safe care by investing in staffing.”

NUHW and CNA are some of the many unions locked in struggle with Kaiser. Their demands surrounding AI are reflective of modern concerns around technology now melding with decades-long labor struggle. So long as Kaiser continues with further usage of AI and cost cutting around staffing, the labor struggle across different sectors of healthcare is sure to only heat up further.

#SanJoseCA #CA #Labor #Strike #Healthcare #NUHW #CNA #

On Wednesday, a group of more than 600 physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners held a one-day strike against their employer, Minneapolis-based Allina Health. The primary and urgent care providers work at over 60 clinics in Minnesota and Wisconsin and are organized with Doctors Council SEIU Local 10MD.

The Doctors Council said this event is the largest private-sector strike among healthcare providers in United States history, as well as the first ever in Minnesota. Matt Hoffman, family medicine physician at Allina, explained: “After 20 months of bargaining, we are striking for a primary care system where doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants have the time and resources to give our patients the best possible care.”

Allina Health has divested from its primary care network in recent years. In September of 2024 the nonprofit health conglomerate sold its outpatient laboratories to Quest Diagnostics, a for-profit company, for $230 million. On November 1, Allina closed four locations in Maplewood, Oakdale, Inver Grove Heights and downtown Minneapolis, with another location in Chaska set to close on February 1 of next year. These decisions have reduced access to care and slowed down test results.

Meanwhile, according to Dr. Hoffman, “Allina has not addressed burnout or inadequate staffing levels, and is trying to cut pay for our providers” at the bargaining table. Despite the company’s public projections of financial hardship, public tax records indicate that Allina Health CEO Lisa Shannon made over $3 million in 2023.

Allina’s behavior is part of a larger nationwide trend in healthcare, with increasing consolidation, cost cutting, and corporate influence making it harder for providers and other healthcare employees to serve patients well. These Doctors Council members are charting a new path and showing healthcare providers everywhere how to fight back against this dynamic. “We are trying to create a system where healthcare providers can focus on taking care of patients, and will not stop fighting as long as our patients are suffering,” Dr. Hoffman said.

The providers will be back in negotiations with Allina early next month.

#Labor #Healthcare #Allina #SEIU #Feature

Duluth, MN – On Friday, July 19, striking workers were on the picket line at Essentia Health, Duluth Clinic 2nd Street. Friday marked the 11th day of an open-ended strike by around 700 Registered Nurses and Advanced Practice Providers (APP) who formed a union in 2024.

The workers are demanding that management sit down with them and negotiate their first union contract, more than a year after they won their union election and formed a union. In February of 2024 the RNs at Essentia Clinics voted to join the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) and soon after, in July 2024, the Advanced Practice Providers also joined MNA.

Now, more than a year later, Essentia management is refusing to negotiate a first contract with the advanced practice workers and has filed an appeal with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking to throw out the results of the election.

Essentia’s argument claims that advanced practice workers do not constitute a legally eligible bargaining unit under NLRB standards. However, this issue was litigated by the NLRB in 2024 and, after hearing both sides in a federal hearing the NLRB, ruled that the bargaining unit was valid and went ahead with the election. Once the workers won their election and formed a union Essentia was legally compelled to begin negotiating with the workers. To date, they have failed to do so and have said publicly that they will continue to refuse to do so as long as their appeal is unresolved.

At this time the union is in place and Essentia is legally required to negotiate with the workers until a time when the ruling is reversed, if it is. MNA has filed federal charges with the NLRB citing that Essentia committed an unfair labor practice by not bargaining with the newly-formed union.

Since Donald Trump was sworn into office in January of 2025, he has fired a sitting member of the NLRB board in Washington DC, meaning that the board no longer has a quorum to rule over cases which are appealed. This sets up a situation in which by appealing the ruling, regardless of validity of the appeal, the case will not be resolved at least until there is quorum again at the NLRB which could be in months or years.

On day eleven of the strike, the picket lines remained large and energetic with around 100 workers picketing at the 2nd Street clinic and another picket location at another Essentia clinic. Many cars driving by on 2nd Street honked and waved. Pizzas were delivered to feed the striking workers, and members of other unions in the area came out and walked the line in support of the strike.

Julie Flotten is an RN in the1st Street oncology building. Flotten said, “We have been working diligently just to try to get Essentia to create a contract with us, and confirm our jobs, not float us to areas that we are not trained, have transparency with us as employees and as an employer just give a promise in writing of how they are going to treat us so we can take care of our patients.”

Flotten went on to say, “We didn’t get hired to become float nurses. I worked really hard to become an expert in oncology. Essentia wants to be able to float us around based on numbers where they have low staff or wherever the need might be, but I wouldn’t be really good in OB or GI or neurology. I am really good in oncology, and so we want to have all of our colleagues work in the area that they are specialized in so they can deliver the best patient care.”

Brittany Ortler is a Nurse Practitioner in the gastroenterology department. Nurse Practitioners, along with Physicians Assistants and Midwives, form the advanced practice providers bargaining unit. Ortler stated, “We felt that the voices of the advanced practice providers were really not being heard at Essentia, and we felt that uniting the group together to unionize was really the only option that we had.”

Ortler continued, “We overwhelmingly voted to have a union. Since that time, after we voted, Essentia appealed that vote up to the National NLRB. The national NLRB – we gave them some time, and then the [U.S. presidential] election came and January 20 happened and the national NLRB no longer has a quorum so they are unable to even hear our case at this time, so we have asked Essentia to drop the appeal, we’ve asked them to come to the table to bargain with us, we’ve asked them to conditionally bargain with us while we are waiting for the appeal and they have just simply refused to acknowledge really that we exist and that we have rights to bargaining, so we are on an unfair labor practice strike.”

When asked what she would say to Essentia management, Ortler said, “We want to have a voice in how we care for our patients, the time we get to spend with our patients, whether that be being able to say no to having two patients scheduled at the same time and having to split your time between them both. We really feel strongly that we should be able to have a voice in how our patients are cared for,” adding, “We want to protect our patients, we want to protect ourselves, and we want to ensure that we are providing the best care for our patients as we can.”

To Essentia management, Flotten said, “Meet with us! Take this seriously! Take this as seriously as we are! People are losing their livelihoods right now. We don’t want to be out here walking when we are trained to be working, It’s a shame for our patients. None of us want to be out here on the sidewalk. It is not a vacation. The only glimmer is that we have made stronger relationships with one and another and made us stronger that way,” and, “Essentia needs to meet with us and bargain every day, and bring the advanced practice providers to the table and recognize their union, and to respect that these first contracts deserve a fair contract.”

#DuluthMN #MN #Labor #Nurses #Strike #Healthcare #MNA #NLRB #Feature

Two days into the nurses’ strike, on July 10, around 430 MNA members, advanced practice providers (APP), also walked off the job in dozens of locations. These workers began an open-ended strike of their own against Essentia Health. APP includes nurse practitioners, physician assistants, midwives, and clinical nurse specialists across 69 locations of Essentia. The union workers are running joint picket lines and events.

The striking nurses formed their union in February 2024, and the APP workers joined in July of 2024. Union membership was then certified by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This legally compels management to begin bargaining with the newly unionized workers.

Now, a year after the workers won NLRB certification, Essentia Health is appealing the ruling that granted the workers their union. That appeal could take anywhere from months to years to be relitigated, and until then the employees’ bargaining unit is legally certified. This requires management to bargain in good faith with the union. The boss’s position is that they refuse to fulfill their obligation to bargain until their appeal has been ruled on.

The MNA strike will continue until Essentia Health management decides to return to the bargaining table with the union members.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #Labor #Healthcare #Strike #MNA

Stillwater, MN – More than 80 healthcare workers at HealthPartners Stillwater clinics have been on strike since Tuesday, July 8. The workers are represented by the Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa local of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Heather Eggers is a medical assistant in family medicine with HealthPartners Stillwater. Eggers said, “We’re out here because there have been seven bargaining sessions, and the employer has come back with less than adequate compensation. We’re fighting for our wages over the next three years to be 5.75%, 5% and 4% and for better teaming benefits, floating benefits and other things that would help us do our jobs better.”

Workers decided it was time to show management how serious they are and took a strike vote. Voter turnout was extremely high and resulted in a 99% vote to strike. The union then filed a legally required ten-day notice of their intent to strike and began on July 8. The workers decided they would strike for four days, ending at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 11.

At the center of the dispute are wages. The union workers say that management has refused to come to the table with raises that respect their work. As the strike continues, HealthPartners is bringing in temporary replacement workers. The scab workers are paid significantly more than the workers on strike to do the same work.

In addition to across the board raises, the workers are seeking compensation for duties beyond their normal work when required. The workers are asked to perform “teaming,” which means that when a particular provider in the system is short-handed the extra work is performed by these workers in addition to their normal workloads. They believe they should be paid extra for this work as they are doing more than one person’s job. Similarly, they would like to be paid extra when they are required to float to areas other than where their normal job is based.

Fight Back! joined the HealthPartners workers on the picket line on Thursday. The picket was well attended, and community and labor supporters showed solidarity with the striking workers. It was a hot and humid day, and a local ice cream truck set up across the street from the picket line and was giving out free ice cream in support of the strike. Many cars passing by on the street honked, as people cheered and waved at the workers in support.

At 11 a.m. on Thursday July 10, an announcement went out across the picket line that management called and wants to go back to the bargaining table. The union and management will meet on Friday, July 11 to resume bargaining.

Eggers had a message for management, “Look at our support out here. We have had numerous people from the community coming by and supporting us, our patients coming by and supporting us. We’re here for the community so let’s listen to them and pay us what we are worth.”

The strike will continue on the sidewalks of HealthPartners Stillwater on Friday even as bargaining resumes.

#StillwaterMN #MN #Labor #Strike #SEIU #Healthcare #Feature

The proposed restructuring came after Florida State University and TMH announced their future partnership, and TMH is expanding significantly, including a new campus in Panama City. The new agreement would bypass city authority to approve members of TMH’s board.

Local retired cardiologist Dr. Edward Holifield, a frequent critic of TMH’s “subpar” healthcare, spoke with me to voice his frustrations with the city but also TMH’s lack of community accountability. He does not believe the city should sell TMH and argues the city should have more oversight.

Holifield states, “The city shouldn’t sell the property unless the proceeds of the sales go to the healthcare of Black and poor people. The city should own TMH and use it as a vehicle to provide affordable, quality, equitable healthcare instead of substandard healthcare.”

Holifield believes the city is engaging in a “hostile takeover” and that TMH leadership and employees were not even aware of the proposed changes. He says Mayor John Dailey and City Manager Reese Road were already moving behind the scenes.

Holifield criticized TMH for its $1 a year lease – the city owns all the buildings, the land, and hospital equipment. He also called out its high Black infant mortality rate, and frequent D ratings from the Leapfrog Group, an organization that collects, analyzes and publishes data on the healthcare industry. Furthermore, WFSU reported TMH received an F rating in spring 2020.

According to the Democrat, TMH has earned three consecutive D grades. As Holifield points out, “A substandard rating to Leapfrog means patients have either suffered unnecessarily or died unnecessarily.”

“One F is enough,” Holifield remarked, emphasizing that failing Leapfrog ratings are rare and dangerous.

Holifield also raises concerns over Tallahassee's high rates of Black maternal and infant mortality, citing data from Florida CHARTS as a source that breaks down outcomes by county and race. He accuses TMH of ignoring racial disparities in care, despite being a non-profit hospital.

Holifield wonders if TMH’s expansion into Panama City is even illegal, saying, “TMH doesn’t pay any property taxes, but it provides medical resources for the people of Panama City.”

He asks who gave TMH authority to expand. Was it the city commission? The Black community? “Why export resources to Margaritaville when Black babies are dying in Tallahassee?” he said.

Holifield also criticizes TMH for its racist history. “Black people have paid the price [to build TMH] but they never fully benefited from it. Black people weren’t even allowed in TMH until 1965. It was built using a 10% utility tax that Black people had to pay to support the white municipal hospital.”

He wonders how an organization can pay a $1-a-year lease and exploit its workers, stating, “You can work full time at TMH and still be eligible for food stamps and Medicaid. The CEO makes over a million a year while janitors only make $14 an hour. That’s not a living wage.” According to ProPublica, TMH’s CEO racks up a $1,212,451 salary.

He also accuses TMH of promoting infant formula over breastfeeding for premature babies, contributing to necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). He says TMH only adopted the “Baby-Friendly” hospital standard which encourages breastfeeding, after community pressure.

Holifield argues decisions like these are life-and-death issues that disproportionately affect poor and Black families.

Finally, Holifield connects TMH’s culture to a broader trend of silencing discussions about racism and inequity in public institutions. He points to a controversial list of banned DEI-related terms recently published by FSU leadership.

“How can you address racial disparities in healthcare when you can’t even say the words?” he asked. “We’re going backward.”

As the city of Tallahassee weighs the future of TMH, Holifield words serve as a warning, emphasizing that without transparency, accountability and commitment to equity, the hospital’s legacy of exclusion and inequality will only deepen.

#TallahasseeFL #FL #PeoplesStruggle #Healthcare

Allendale, MI – On January 29, Grand Valley State University's Progressive Student Union (PSU) led a speak-out against the new Trump administration. People held signs relating to healthcare, immigration, LGBTQ rights and other causes. The mood was casual, and people joined the students in protest throughout the event.

PSU organizer Owen Frassetto said, “Trump and his administration are now waging attacks against all sorts of people in this country. We need to unite the organizations of these different groups to stand together against attacks on immigrants, on trans people, on public education, and so much more. Our work is cut out for us, but people are ready to stand together and act.”

Another organizer, Elisa Skinner, said, “If you think the direction the country is heading in is the best it can be, I invite you to take a look around and stand in someone else's shoes. We have families being ripped apart, laws and standards violated, and billionaires such as Elon Musk giving Nazi salutes and attending far-right rallies.”

Donald Trump's election has brought with it uncertainty in regard to civil rights and the future of oppressed people. As anew student organization, PSU is trying to unite all forces that can be united against Donald Trump on Grand Valley's campus.

The Progressive Student Union holds weekly meetings which are announced on their Instagram, @psugvsu

#AllendaleMI #GVSU #PSU #PSUGVSU #Trump #LGBTQ #LGBTQrights #Healthcare #Immigration

Duluth, MN – At 4 p.m. on a blustery January 15 in Duluth, workers from Essentia Health-Deer River pulled up in a bus in front of the Essentia Health-Duluth hospital and began a solidarity picket in front of the main entrance to the hospital.

The Deer River Essentia workers are represented by the Service Employees International Union, Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa (SEIU HCMNIA). January 15 marked their 38th day of an open-ended strike at their hospital and nursing home.

The healthcare workers are striking over pay, saying that cost of living has gone up and they need real raises to keep paying the bills. After 38 days on strike, they decided to take their fight to Essentia headquarters in Duluth, nearly 100 miles from Deer River.

The small hospital and clinic in Deer River, Minnesota was bought up by the rapidly expanding Essentia system, which has purchased many of the hospitals in the northern half of the state.

The striking workers were joined at the solidarity picket by members of the Minnesota Nurses Association and the United Steel Workers, who both represent large numbers of workers at the Duluth Essentia hospital, as well as by supporters from the AFL-CIO and the surrounding community.

Around 100 union members and supporters picketed for two hours from 4 to 6 p.m. It was cold, and high winds off of Lake Superior buffeted the crowd. Picket signs could be seen blowing off of sticks and taking to the wind, but the picketers were undeterred, with loud chanting and warm coffee and hot chocolate donated from supporters.

Sarah Jo Roberts, a certified surgical technologist at the Deer River Hospital for over 14 years stated, “What we are asking for is fair sustainable wages for our members. We are the lowest paid Essentia Health workers in the entire state of Minnesota and that is just not acceptable. Cost of living goes up every year and what we are asking for is a fair livable wage. Essentia is saying ‘nope we can't afford to pay you any more because you are in a small community’ but why is it that our Essentia CEO is one of the highest paid in the state of Minnesota and gets a $1.1 million bonus, which was tripled from the prior year? How is that ok but you can tell us, the ones that are doing the work, that you can't pay us more? That's not ok.”

When asked about what is coming next, Roberts said, “We will be meeting management at the bargaining table on the 22nd and we hope to get an agreement, but if we don't, we're gonna stay on the line til we get a contract that is sustainable for us.”

#DuluthMN #MN #Labor #Strike #Healthcare #SEIU #Feature

On December 4, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in broad daylight, right in front of the hotel where a UHC investors meeting was set to begin. What followed was a multi-million dollar manhunt that culminated in the arrest of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione.

Since then, the ruling class media have worked overtime to paint Mangione as a villain, although he represents people’s righteous anger at a health “care” system that is killing us.

In one breath, Fox News hosts derided those who applaud Mangione as “nutbags” and claimed they had a “sickness.” Then, in the same segment, Laura Ingram said subway killer Daniel Penny was a hero. She supports individuals such as Daniel Penny because of a deeply rooted racism and white chauvinism. In Ingram’s world, the actions of Daniel Penny, the white ex-Marine found not guilty of the murder of Jordan Neely, a homeless Black person and street performer, meet with her approval precisely because she embraces keeping the oppressed oppressed.

The hypocrisy is blatant and unsurprising. Fox News is silently shouting that the life of a Black homeless man is worth less than the life of a high-powered white health insurance executive.

Right-wingers love vigilantism as long as it doesn’t target the rich and powerful. They celebrate racist killers like George Zimmerman, Kyle Rittenhouse and Daniel Penny but condemn Luigi Mangione.

It’s not just the right-wing media that is trying to persuade Americans against Mangione; liberal publications like The Daily Beast have published headlines like “Luigi Mangione Destroyed His Grandfather’s Rags-to-Riches Legacy.” The media is attempting to frame the focus away from the systemic failures Mangione’s actions highlighted and redirect it toward character assassination. The media tries to turn the public eye towards the privileged upbringing of Mangione and attempts to bury the man’s chronic suffering, which was much like the suffering of many Americans.

This isn't an issue of “left-wing lunatics” celebrating the death of a CEO. The events of the last week shine a light on the hundreds of thousands of Americans drowning in medical debt and grieving loved ones who were killed by the profit-driven healthcare industry. Sky-high premiums, along with benefits that are cut more steeply each year, are taking a toll on the people. The Peter G. Peterson Foundation found that in 2022, the average American spent significantly more on healthcare than other countries, at $13,493 per person or $4.5 trillion nationwide.

Additionally, Statista reports, “As of 2023, around 19 percent of U.S. adults were satisfied with the total healthcare cost in the United States.” According to Value Penguin, UnitedHealthcare’s claim denial rate is the highest in the industry, at 32%. Physicians for a National Health Program also found that 44,789 Americans die every year due to a lack of healthcare. The United States of America is touted as the wealthiest country in the world. Yet, it is the only developed nation that does not provide free universal healthcare to its citizens.

The American people are aware of the growing social inequality. They are aware of the ways that the wealthy 1% uses power and money to disenfranchise the masses. Therefore, the ruling class must contend with what will undoubtedly be increased hostility as the people grapple with the hypocrisies of our present society.

Luigi Mangione is not the villain – the healthcare industry is. Ultimately, Brian Thompson's death does not undo this for-profit industry's systemic failures. Individual actions like this are not the answer. Organizing is.

Donald Trump will be sworn in as president soon, and he has already promised to undo the Affordable Care Act. What the killing of Brian Thompson has shown is that the masses of the American people want something better, sooner rather than later. Now is the time to demand single-payer healthcare. The current system, which places the profits of the wealthy before the needs of the people, needs to go.

#Opinion #Commentary #Healthcare #LuigiMangione #HealthInsurance

New York, New York – A crowd of 100 demonstrators rallied in front of New York City Hall on Friday, March 22, to support home health aides on a hunger strike to end the inhumane 24-hour workdays that home attendants in New York City are forced to endure.

New York is the only state that permits health care agencies to schedule workers for 24-hour shifts, rather than dividing that period into two 12-hour shifts like other states. These 24-hour shifts leave workers exhausted, with little time to see their own families, and often result in chronic injuries and serious health conditions for the workers. Furthermore workers, who are predominantly immigrant women of color, are typically paid for only 13 out of those 24 hours.

Beginning March 20, several home attendants embarked on a hunger strike to demand city council pass the No More 24 Act, a bill which would ban these 24-hour shifts. But Speaker of City Council Adrienne Adams refuses to bring the bill to a vote.

At the rally on Friday, organized by GABRIELA New York and Youth Against Sweatshops, the crowd chanted “No more 24!” in reference to the bill.

Speakers highlighted the irony of Speaker Adams, the first Black speaker presiding over the first women-majority city council, turning her back on her fellow women of color. The speaker from GABRIELA NYC called attention to this fact, demanding to know “Speaker Adams, do you not have the courage to bear witness to these women going hungry? Or are you ignoring them to avoid a little discomfort?”

Other speakers at the protest included former home attendants who discussed their own experiences working brutal 24 hour shifts. One speaker related how while caring for her own 91-year-old mother, she was unable to get the health care agency to split the day into two 12-hour shifts. As a result of the exhaustion the speaker suffered trying to maintain this impossible schedule, her mother slipped and broke her hip.

Briony Smith, speaking on behalf of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, highlighted the financial interests involved, saying, “It is shameful that after ten years of home attendants tirelessly organizing, Speaker Adrienne Adams would still rather let women starve themselves on the steps of city hall than shave a single cent off the profits of health care agencies and insurance companies.”

As long as the city council continues to permit these inhumane working conditions and refuses to vote on the No More 24 Act, home attendants in New York City will continue to hunger strike and organize to demand an end to the 24-hour workday.

#NewYorkNY #NY #Labor #Healthcare #GABRIELA #FRSO #

Tampa, FL – Early in the morning March 4, nurses and their supporters rallied out front HCA Florida Largo Hospital in Largo to generate support for a good contract in the upcoming negotiations between HCA and National Nurses United.

Passing commuters honked their car horns as the crowd chanted in support of major nurse demands.

Contract negotiations begin March 5 for HCA nurses at ten hospitals across central Florida from Brooksville, south to Port Charlotte, and east to Orlando. Among the main demands are safe staffing levels and patient ratios, as well as fighting attempts to replace RNs with team nursing programs and technology.

The previous contract was negotiated in 2021 with the COVID-19 pandemic being a focal point. The contract expires May 31. HCA is the largest hospital system in the United States, making $5.2 billion in 2023. Florida senator and former governor Rick Scott made his name in the 90s after being forced to resign as CEO from HCA in a scandal over improper bookkeeping.

“HCA staffs their hospitals at 30% below the national average, we want them to staff it at 100%,” said National Nurses United bargaining committee member Karena Jimenez, in reference to one of the major demands they are fighting for in contract negotiations.

National Nurses United pledged to continue their struggle against HCA’s greedy practices.

#TampaFL #Labor #Contract #NNU #Healthcare #Nurses

A number of community organizations were in attendance for the rally, including Milwaukee Innercity Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH), the Coalition to Save St. Francis Hospital, Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee, WISDOM and supportive healthcare agency representatives in the area.

(MICAH) stated in a press release regarding the closure of the clinic: “It is clear that Children’s Wisconsin is more interested in following the model of other healthcare corporations like Ascension Wisconsin by divesting from essential services in low-income communities of color. The closure of Next Door Pediatrics Clinic, like the closure of Saint Francis Hospital’s labor and delivery unit last year, is a greedy and racist decision.

“MICAH, the Coalition to Save Saint Francis, partner organizations and our communities will continue fighting and advocating for the continuation of services at Next Door Pediatrics. If Children’s Wisconsin is committed to their mission, they’d be expanding the services of Next Door Pediatrics, not closing the facility.”

Lo Cross, a member of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, said, “These people and corporations do not have the same values of the communities that they are stewards of. They claim to be of the community but community interests in their practices are absent. Everyone wants to write think pieces and story-tell of all the things that Black and brown communities in Milwaukee are inadequate with, with no context as to when and how things are taken from us.”

Cross continues, “That’s why it’s important that we are all here today and continue to show up in support of the efforts to keep Next Door open. Corporations and monied interests may have a long history of disinvestment and exploitation in Milwaukee, but organized communities have a longer and deeper rooted history here of winning all that can be won, including reinvestment in our communities.“

MiCAH, along with other concerned organizations in the city, hope to have a summit to convene around the common issue of preventing healthcare closures in our city and holding those in power accountable.

#MilwaukeeWI #PeoplesStruggles #Healthcare