Activism (Page 5)

On:
In: Activism, Home, Member Blog

By Diane McLaughlin, RN

MNA Member, Retired

 

We live in a “toxic” (i.e. sick) society, according to Dr. Chris Johnson, MD, Emergency Physician with Allina Health Minneapolis.  Johnson spoke this fall Protect Minnesota and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health put on the Public Health Conference on Gun Violence Protection.  The Minnesota Association Board of Directors helped sponsor the event, and three MNA members of the Governmental Affairs Commission attended.

Johnson said we can see the evidence of a toxic society by: gun violence, including domestic and mass shootings; child poverty (1 in 5 children live in poverty); teen pregnancy rates; opioid deaths and drug abuse as 80 percent of the world’s supply comes to the US; and a lack of social mobility.
… Read more about: From the Public Health Conference on Gun Violence Protection  »

On:
In: Activism, Healthcare, Home, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Nurses, Sanford

By Diane Scott, RN

MNA Member

We all know the stories. A mom couldn’t get her son to the right specialist because it was out of the hospital’s “network.” Another mom couldn’t get occupational or physical therapy for her daughter without having to fight like hell to get it. How many times have MNA nurses cried at work and heard the stories of their long fights with their employer because their children could not get the healthcare they deserve? What about the non-contract employees and patients who can’t fight?

On October 24, 2017, MNA decided to fight back. We filed a second step class action grievance on behalf of all Registered Nurses working at Sanford Health of Northern Minnesota Bemidji.
… Read more about: The Union Difference  »

On:
In: Action, Activism, Home, Nurses, RNRN

By Charlotte “Kava” Zabawa, RN

MNA Member, GAC Commissioner, CARN Member

 

A week ago, when the bombing occurred in Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu, I was at MNA’s convention in Rochester, unaware.  My friend and fellow nurse left the convention early to return to Minneapolis in order to, as she said, “pick up a friend at the airport.”  I was still clueless.

 

It wasn’t until I returned home and read the paper, Tuesday, that I learned what happened and guessed the real reason my dear nurse friend had left the convention.
… Read more about: Offering Help: Nurse to Nurse  »

On:
In: Activism, Bernie Sanders, Home, Politics, Single Payer

By Geri Katz

MNA Healthcare Reform Specialist

 

The last few weeks in healthcare justice advocacy have been like nothing I’ve ever seen in my whole career. If you had asked me six or eight months ago, “do you think Single Payer healthcare will be having a renaissance in the United States in 2017?” I would have laughed at you.

The debate over repealing the Affordable Care Act laid bare the GOP’s real attitude toward healthcare: “if you can’t afford your medical bills, it’s your fault;” “American lives aren’t worth as much as tax cuts for the wealthy.” It was clear they had no solutions to the problems Americans really have with healthcare, such as the skyrocketing premiums, high deductibles, and the stranglehold insurance companies have over our healthcare decisions.
… Read more about: Is it finally time for Single Payer?  »

On:
In: Activism, Home

By Rick Fuentes

MNA Communications Specialist

 

Ok, this might be painful.  It’s not easy to agree with the powers-that-be in Washington, regardless of who’s in the White House, and especially with one that’s also gone so bombastic with rhetoric as to denigrate entire religious, ethnic, and racial groups of Americans.  It’s even harder when that administration is threatening to take away healthcare from people who desperately need it. Regardless, the criticism toward CNN and the Trump critics is right. The news (and the high-profile Trump) critics need to raise their game.

 

A few weeks ago, CNN was forced to apologize and retract a story a Russian bank with close ties to President Trump was under investigation, according to the New York Times.
… Read more about: Why Trump Is Actually Right About Something and the Media Is Wrong  »

People's Summit

On:
In: Action, Activism, Bernie Sanders, Home

By Jon Tollefson

MNA Government Relations Specialist

Much has been made of a conference that former presidential candidate Senator Bernie Senators hosted in Chicago last month. The New York Times and Washington Post both covered it (among a reported 180 news outlets) and both asked whether the Democratic Party is facing a split following the 2016 campaign. But the evidence doesn’t point that way.

 

The People’s Summit centered on the future of the progressive movement and how we can win elections. The main theme, as stated by Senator Sanders, was that “People are sick and tired of establishment politics and establishment economics,” noting that our lives will not get better by keeping the establishment in power.
… Read more about: Are Democrats Facing a Party Split or a Leadership Vacuum?  »

On:
In: Action, Activism, Home, Labor Unions, Unions

By Cameron Fure

MNA Political Organizer

As consumers, we have considerable power with where we choose to spend our dollars. Corporations and businesses respond to consumer demands and market trends by changing their product mix and how they deliver services to their customers. Here’s what we can do to ensure our hard-earned dollars support fairness and equality in the workplace.

For starters, we all gotta eat, but most of us don’t give much thought about which grocery store we support beyond their prices or product selection. As with most things in life, not all grocery stores are created equal when it comes to how they treat their workers.
… Read more about: Shopping with Our Hearts and Minds  »

On:
In: Activism, Health Care Reform, Home, Insurance, Politics, Single Payer

By Barb Brady

MNA Communications Specialist

April 11 brought Minnesotans together for a Day of Action for Healthcare for All. A crowd gathered near Blue Cross/Blue Shield’s headquarters in Eagan to rally for a publicly funded healthcare system that covers everyone and costs less: Medicare for All.

Speakers from the Minnesota Nurses Association, National Nurses United, the Land Stewardship Project, and Physicians for a National Health Program energized dozens of attendees with a call for Medicare for All, which would ensure access to quality, affordable healthcare for all Americans.

The group then went to Blue Cross/Blue Shield headquarters with a letter asking for Blue Cross CEO Michael Guyette to publicly commit to lowering premiums and selling individual insurance products statewide.
… Read more about: Day of Action Calls for Healthcare for All  »

On:
In: Activism, Home, Nursing Education, Student Nurses

By Barb Brady

MNA Communications Specialist

More than 500 student nurses from schools throughout Minnesota learned the importance of advocating for patients at the bedside and in the public arena at MNA’s Student Day on the Hill on April 4.

“You need to get your voices out there for patients and the profession,” Essentia Health Duluth RN and MNA member Emily Kniskern told students and faculty, adding that legislators often are not familiar with nurses’ issues.

“Legislators need nurses’ and patients’ perspectives” so they can make decisions that ensure nurses can safely care for their patients, she said.
… Read more about: Nursing students learn key role: advocating for patients away from the bedside  »

On:
In: Activism, Bernie Sanders, Home, Legislative Policy, Minimum Wage, Nurses, Robin Hood Tax, Single Payer

By Katie Gjertson

MNA Political Coordinator

This June 9 – 11, several thousand progressive activists from across the country will gather in Chicago for the People’s Summit 2.0. It’s a multi-organizational, multi-racial, multi-issue conference, co-hosted by the National Nurses United. The event goals are to form a broad coalition committed to building a people’s movement united around social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.

MNA members are invited to attend, and those who haven’t been to an event like this before are the perfect candidate. These events feature high-powered speeches by progressive leaders that will leave participants fired up to get involved.
… Read more about: The People’s Summit 2.0  »