Fight Back with Your Friendly, Neighborhood Credit Union (Page 53)

By Cameron Fure

Cameron Fure
Cameron Fure
MNA Political Organizer

MNA Political Organizer

 

Since the election this last fall, many have been searching for ways to get involved in their local communities and play a bigger role in influencing change in our country. Some decisions may be made behind closed doors in the corridors of power of Saint Paul and Washington, DC, but we can fight back—with our pocketbooks. Where we spend our dollars matters, and companies notice when we patronize businesses we like and boycott those that exhibit questionable or unacceptable behavior.

Large financial institutions have reaped the benefits of doing business in our country by charging exorbitant overdraft fees and infinitely increasing fees when using out-of-network ATMs. The big banks’ average ATM fee is $4.57 according to BankRate. The three largest banks in America (Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chase) raked in $6.4 billion last year from these fees alone. That’s roughly $25 for every adult American. What’s more, that total was up almost $300 million from fees collected in 2015.

Beyond the penalties imposed on account holders these big banks are paying exorbitant amounts of money to their C-suite executives. In 2015 Wells Fargo CEO, John Stumpf, made $19.3 million; JPMorgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon, made $18.2 million; and Bank of America CEO, Brian Moynihan made $13.8 million. These figures do not include additional compensation including stock options, life insurance, private plane rides, etc. Even if we don’t begrudge someone being successful, compare those salaries to the average bank teller (at those companies) who makes roughly $12.77 an hour. It’s easy to make a case that these salaries are outrageous.

The big banks are healthy and profitable again. Banks raked in $171.3 billion in profit in 2016 alone, and since the financial crisis in 2008, the big banks have made nearly $1 trillion in profits while paying $321 billion in fines for their problems they created back then. Yet, we continue to support a for-profit banking system that continues to be fined for under-handed attempts to separate customers of their hard-earned money.

Local banks and credit unions are worthy alternatives that ensure that our collective wealth is not concentrated in so few hands. Banking locally benefits our local communities and encourages resources are re-invested in our backyards. Credit unions exist to help people, not make a profit. Compare the fees and loan rates of credit unions to any big bank, they’re lower. When credit unions do profit, they pass along to their members via lower rates on loans, higher interest on savings or certificates of deposit. In addition, many credit unions belong to co-op network ATMs and branches, which allow members to go to use other cash machines without being subjected to additional fees. Where we keep our money may be the easiest and strongest message of showing the powers-that-be we can also vote with our dollars.

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

By Cameron Fure

MNA Political Organizer

 

Since the election this last fall, many have been searching for ways to get involved in their local communities and play a bigger role in influencing change in our country. Some decisions may be made behind closed doors in the corridors of power of Saint Paul and Washington, DC, but we can fight back—with our pocketbooks. Where we spend our dollars matters, and companies notice when we patronize businesses we like and boycott those that exhibit questionable or unacceptable behavior.

Large financial institutions have reaped the benefits of doing business in our country by charging exorbitant overdraft fees and infinitely increasing fees when using out-of-network ATMs.
… Read more about: Fight Back with Your Friendly, Neighborhood Credit Union  »

On:
In: Home, Sanford, Unsafe Staffing

By Mathew Keller, RN JD
Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

Limousine service, upgraded television sets, nurse-to-patient “scripts,” gourmet food service, nurse uniform requirements. Hospitals all over the U.S. are offering more “customer-centric” patient care in order to increase patient satisfaction scores, which are becoming more and more important to raise and maintain Medicare reimbursement amounts.

These efforts, however, often have unintended consequences.

In the first place, customer-centric interventions rarely (if ever) improve the quality of care patients receive. Rather, they merely improve patients’ perceptions of care.
… Read more about: Sanford Health Gets it Backwards  »

On:
In: Allina, Home, Insurance, Nurses

By Mathew Keller RN JD

MNA Regulatory and Policy Specialist

“In Minnesota, like the rest of the country, our health care system is in crisis. Healthcare premiums have increased at double-digit levels year-after-year. Employers are being squeezed by these costs, and healthcare has become prohibitively expensive for many self-employed, retired, and uninsured citizens. In this climate, nonprofit healthcare organizations owe a heightened duty to show proper stewardship.”

This was testimony offered to the U.S. Senate Finance committee not this week, not this year, not even this decade—but on April 5, 2005, by then-Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch. It was spurred in part by a comprehensive audit performed by the Attorney General’s office on Allina Health and its subsidiary insurance company, Medica.
… Read more about: With Allina-Aetna Insurance Partnership, It’s Buyer Beware  »

On:
In: Allina, Home, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Nurses

By Mathew Keller

MNA Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

Allina’s final estimate of how much money it wasted on labor strife is in, with the health system pegging its total strike costs at 149 million dollars. As Allina employees know, however, this number is an underestimate. While the estimate includes the cost of shipping replacement nurses into Minnesota and paying them hourly rates that would make a cardiologist blush, and subtracts the costs Allina would have paid its trusted nurses were they not on strike– it does not account for the fact that Allina has been and will continue to pay eye-popping sums for replacement nurses well into 2017 due to the extreme level of nurse-turnover post-strike.
… Read more about: What can $149 million get you?  »

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

By Rose Roach

MNA Executive Director

 

The Minnesota Nurses Association supports the Minnesota Health Act as proposed by Roseville Senator John Marty and Northfield Representative David Bly (SF 219/HF358). We say loudly and enthusiastically, it’s about time. Finally, we see the proven solution to the healthcare crisis that rages on in this state and in this country.

Nurses don’t care about your insurance card or your credit card—the only card they’re interested in is your get-well card. As natural advocates for their patients and front line workers in the healthcare world, who better to articulate the reality of a system that puts corporate greed over human need?
… Read more about: Nurses Support the Minnesota Health Act  »

On:
In: Allina, Home

By Mat Keller, RN, JD, MNA Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

What does the Allina strike mean for non-Allina nurses? I’m sure if you’re a nurse in Minnesota, Iowa, or Wisconsin, you’ve asked yourself a similar question. And it’s not unreasonable. What, exactly, does the Allina strike mean for the profession?

Nothing less than our future.

Allina Health is a corporate entity that has managed to build up $1.3 billion in stock market reserves, $160 million in Caribbean bank accounts, and $300 million in cash, according to its most recent federal Form 990 financial disclosures.
… Read more about: Why the Allina strike continues to matter  »

On:
In: HCMC, Home, Nurses

By Mathew Keller RN, JD

Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

In a recent communication to its employees, HCMC claims that this space’s use of HCMC’s Form 990 financial disclosures to the IRS are misleading. Why? The Form 990 “includes as income $20 million in county capital funding that is restricted for maintaining our county-owned facilities and one-time capital funding for the new building.”

In order to get a better picture of HCMC’s finances, HCMC asks the reader to discount from the County hospital’s finances the money the County hospital receives from the County for maintenance of “old” buildings and construction of a “new” building. 
… Read more about: Fact Check: Does Money from the County Count as Revenue?  »

On:
In: HCMC, Home, Hospitals, layoffs, Nurses

By Mathew Keller, RN JD

Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

Hennepin County Medical Center’s 2015 numbers are in, and many HCMC employees on the chopping block might be surprised by them. Despite HCMC’s public statements contributing layoffs to a “financial challenge,” 2015 was its second-most profitable year on record as the healthcare system pocketed $28.6 million in net income—up from $11.5 million in 2014.

HCMC’s MNA nurses are calling on HCMC CEO Jon Pryor to act with more transparency regarding these layoffs. This is not a good start for Dr. Pryor, who stated in an all-employee email on December 9, 2016, “if you’ve been paying attention to the media, you know that HCMC is not the only healthcare organization facing a financial challenge right now.” Only two months prior, the CEO had signed off on the financial report showing the huge 2015 net income increase.
… Read more about: HCMC Doubles Profits in 2015  »