Chicago, IL – 100 nurses and their allies gathered outside the Cook County Pension Fund in downtown Chicago on Augurst 27 demanding the fund sever ties with Palantir, a surveillance technology company. National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union of registered nurses in the U.S., organized the Chicago protest, as well as seven others across the country.

NNU’s campaign to “Purge Palantir” comes as many hospitals establish deeper ties with the company. Some hospitals use Palantir to automate nurse staffing, laying off local managers and worsening working conditions. Other hospitals share patient data with Palantir, which then uses that information so ICE can target and deport immigrant patients.

“Union nurses cannot be silent when our most vulnerable people, babies and children, are being detained by federal immigration agents,” said NNU President Jamie Brown, RN. “While our patients and neighbors are living in fear of immigration raids enabled by Palantir, our hospitals are facing huge cuts, and our patients are facing mounting health care costs because of HR 1. Nurses aren’t just saying no to Palantir, but we’re calling for our public resources to go toward the benefit of working people, not billionaires and their corporations.”

Husam Marajda of U.S. Palestinian Community Network stated, “Per Palantir’s own admission, it serves to help fight ‘U.S. adversaries.’ This specifically means that Palantir serves war and terror. It means that Palantir gives technology to criminal governments and administrations like the United States and Israel and others, to commit war crimes. To kidnap and separate families. To cause destruction everywhere.”

Among Palantir’s backers and investors are the managers of various public worker pension funds, including the Illinois State Board of Investment and the Cook County Pension Fund. CTU Recording Secretary Vicki Kurzydlo explained, “We cannot tell our students and our families that we stand with them while our retirement dollars are invested in companies like Palantir, whose technologies are being used to target, arrest, and disappear people!”

Nurses and health care workers occupied the street for ten minutes. Organizers placed baby shoes in front of banners reading, “Patients over Palantir” and “Purge Palantir.” The shoes represented the over 500 babies that ICE has detained since 2025. Other protesters held notes that children wrote in ICE detention. Some raised umbrellas with big eyes attached symbolizing that nurses are “keeping an eye” on Palantir’s harmful activities.

NNU continues to organize against hospital funding cuts and Palantir. They fight for a better, healthier, future for all. One of NNU’s main calls is to, “Fund care, not billionaires.” You can sign the petition at the National Nurses United website.

#ChicagoIL #IL #Labor #NationalNursesUnited #Palantir #ImmigrantRights #ICE #AntiWarMovement

New Orleans, LA – On August 27, about 30 people gathered for a demonstration against Palantir, a data analytics corporation notorious for its use in mass surveillance and the Palestinian genocide. New Orleans Nurses United led the protest alongside National Nurses United (NNU) locals in seven other cities.

“We nurses are outside the federal building in New Orleans today because one in four people detained by ICE are taken to Louisiana detention centers,” said Hannah Miller, an ICU nurse and NNU member.

The crowd chanted “Purge, purge Palantir!” and raised picket signs that read “Palantir Out!”.

NNU chose to target Palantir in this coordinated National Day of Action because hospitals contract the corporation to manage patient information, including automated scheduling and management. Palantir is currently partnering with the Trump regime to target people for deportation based on Medicaid data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Trump and his fearmongers in Congress continue to send billions to corrupt CEOs who profit from violence and suffering. They have stolen more than a trillion dollars from healthcare for working people,” said Miller.

Nurses then occupied a busy street for over ten minutes and raised a giant banner that read, “Patients over Palantir!” They put stickers on signs and buildings informing bystanders on the dangers ICE and Palantir pose.

“We must unite to say no to Palantir making us work harder for less, no to Palantir arming masked thugs to kidnap our neighbors, no to Palantir enabling Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, and no to Palantir everywhere!” stated Nick Michaels, an organizer with New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports (NOSHIP).

Organizations that joined NNU in this demonstration include NOSHIP, Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP), and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #Labor #Nurses #NationalNursesUnited #Palantir #AntiWarMovement #ImmigrantRights #ICE

Chicago, IL – In the first large demonstration of the NATO summit, 4000 nurses gathered in Daley Plaza at noon on May 18. National Nurses Union members and supporters demanded an end to the bailing out of Wall Street and for a tax on its profits.

Karen Higgins, co-president of National Nurses United said, “As nurses, we are caretakers and we step forward and help the nation recover from this economic crisis.” She also said, “We are watching patients suffer because they can't care for their families and their health at the same time. As nurses this inequality is our problem. We know the solution. It's time for Wall Street to pay what they owe.”

#ChicagoIL #Healthcare #NationalNursesUnited #ChicagoNATOSummit

Chicago, IL – Registered nurses from across the U.S. today condemned Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel for his decision to arrest nurse volunteers, as well as peaceful protesters, in a late night crackdown, Oct. 22 at the Occupy Chicago protest.

National Nurses United is asking supporters to call Mayor Emmanuel’s office at 312-744-5000 and demand they immediately drop all charges against the nurses and other protesters and stop the harassment and arrests of the nurses and others peacefully exercising their free speech rights. Nurses will also picket the mayor’s office at 10 a.m. on Oct. 24 at City Hall at the LaSalle entrance.

Nurse leaders of National Nurses United who set up a nurses’ station to provide basic first aid to Chicago protesters – as NNU as done in five other cities across the U.S. – were among the some 130 people arrested by Chicago police. The police also tore down the first aid station and arrested scores of others who had peacefully assembled to support the station.

“Even in wartime, combatants respect the work of nurses and other first responders. Yet Mayor Emmanuel and Chicago seem to care as little about that tradition as they do in protecting the constitutional rights of free speech and assembly.” said NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro. “These arrests are disgraceful and unconscionable and will not deter our nurses from continuing this mission, setting up the station again, and continuing to support the protests.”

Emmanuel has been perhaps the most aggressive mayor in the nation in repression of the occupy Wall Street movement, with mass arrests on at least two occasions now. The Chicago Tribune reported on Oct. 22 that city officials are trying to send a message to world leaders of being ‘tough’ on demonstrators in advance of upcoming meetings of G-8 and NATO leaders in May 2012.

#ChicagoIL #Labor #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyChicago #NationalNursesUnited #MayorRahmEmmanuel

Chicago, IL – More than 4000 marched here tonight as Occupy Chicago moved from its occupation of La Salle Street (the banking center of the city) to Congress Plaza on the edge of Grant Park. Organizers intend this as a permanent home for the occupation.

Occupy Chicago was joined tonight by a contingent from Teamsters Local 705, as well as representatives who brought resolutions from the National Nurses United and the Chicago Teachers Union. SEIU Local 73 members were there and the local had helped get tents for the occupation.

The police have threatened to clear the park at 11:00 pm.

*Read more [Fight Back! coverage of Occupy Wall street](http://www.fightbacknews.org/news/special-coverage/occupy-wall-street) and follow [@fightbacknews](https://twitter.com/#!/fightbacknews) for live updates from #OccupyWallStreet protests around the country.*

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #ArmandoRobles #ChicagoTeachersUnion #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyChicago #OccupyTogether #TeamstersLocal705 #NationalNursesUnited