The worldwide campaign to enact Robin Hood taxes on financial speculation received a real boost in a major meeting of global union activists this week — with the help of U.S. nurses whose Robin Hood hats and messaging is becoming a familiar site at home.

Delegates representing 329 unions from 123 countries rallied today in the streets of Durban, South Africa for the Robin Hood Tax while also speaking out against austerity measures pushed by the same finance sectors that are the target of the tax.

NNU Co-Presidents Jean Ross, RN, and Deborah Burger, RN at a massive rally today in Durban, South Africa

The union leaders, representing 20 million workers, were in Durban attending the 29th World Congress of the Public Services International (PSI).

On Wednesday, PSI delegates heartily endorsed an NNU-sponsored resolution backing the Robin Hood tax — which sets a small fee on the trading of stocks, bonds, derivatives, currencies, and other financial instruments. Some 30 nations around the world already have a version of the tax, also known as a Financial Transaction Tax.

NNU Co-President Jean Ross, RN at the PSI Convention in South Africa

“The Robin Hood Tax Campaign is vital because we need a movement dedicated to standing up for our communities– for jobs, for health care, for decent housing, education, a secure retirement and quality public services that all of us so desperately need,” Jean Ross, RN, co-president of National Nurses United, told the congress.

The resolution, entitled, “The Global Fight-Back Against Austerity,” said, “The Robin Hood Tax has the opportunity to turn the tide in a century whose first decade has witnessed an appalling assault on equality and community. The time for the financial sector to pay a fair sales tax on its trading is long past due.”

NNU Co-President Deborah Burger, RN, addressing the congress

Speaking of the social and economic devastation caused by the world economic crisis worldwide, Deborah Burger, RN, NNU co-president, told the delegates:

“Working people did not cause this crisis, the bankers and the traders of the world’s financial markets did. Most of them have recouped their losses but the rest of us have paid the bill.

“It’s well known that it’s the poor and working class which are suffering – and deprivation has only intensified. This is a disgrace that requires not only our condemnation but our determined, united and collective action. The Robin Hood Tax Campaign is an essential part of that fight-back.”

The Robin Hood tax is, of course, making rapid advances around the world. France earlier this year implemented the tax and even banking industry-inspired critics of it admit it has proceded without the predicted fears.

Momentum continues to grow throughout Europe as well, as this report notes:

“Now Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, Slovakia and Estonia have followed suit. Robin Hood Tax campaigners consider this a significant achievement after just three years of campaigning.”

The PSI Congress also passed an NNU-proposed resolution supporting minimum, mandatory, nurse-to-patient ratios.

Highlighting the successes of nurses in California and New South Wales and Victoria in Australia in getting laws passed imposing such ratios, Zenei Cortez, RN, co-president of the California Nurses Association and NNU Vice President, told the delegates:

“Winning such nurse-to-patient ratios requires collective patient advocacy and this resolution puts PSI firmly in support of this demand on a global basis. Through such collective efforts, we will saver the lives of thousands of patients who deserve to have quality and dedicated nursing care when they are in the hospital.”

NNU leaders with leaders of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants Association.

The delegates to the Congress also elected Rosa Pavanelli as PSI’s new general secretary, the first woman ever elected to head the global union federation. Pavanelli, who was backed by NNU, is leader of the Italian public workers union, FP-CGIL, which is the largest union of nurses in Italy.

Rosa Pavanelli at the NNU event in Chicago in May

Pavanelli, who joined with NNU nurses and other activists at the historic march and rally for the Robin Hood Tax in Chicago last May, and has been a leader pushing for a Robin Hood Tax in Europe, pledged to make the Robin Hood Tax Campaign a priority of PSI.

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By RoseAnn DeMoro, Executive Director of National Nurses United
Article from National Nurse Magazine – November 2012 Issue

If there was ever a critical moment for building a powerful, effective movement of all registered nurses to protect the interests of patients and nurses, that time has surely come. Here are 101 reasons for RN unity. All reflect the way in which nurses, their patients, practice, families, and communities are under attack. Let’s call this a partial list. Add your own reasons. I welcome your thoughts.

1. Budget-driven short staffing, regardless of patient need

2. Erosion of RNs’ ability to practice in the exclusive interest of patients rather than maximizing profits

3. Misleading “patient satisfaction” goals that substitute budget-driven scripting and rounding for actual care

4. Time spent on the caring process considered “non-productive” time

5. Needed patient services cut based on corporate business models to increase profit margins

6. “Evidence-based” medicine eroding care based on individual patients’ needs

7. Hospitals cutting back on basic equipment and supplies needed to provide good care

8. RNs being required to float to specialty units without proper clinical expertise or orientation

9. Replacement of specialist RN care with generalist RN care

10. Efforts to roll back California’s nurseto- patient ratio law

11. Hospital industry’s nationwide campaign against nurse-to-patient ratios

12. Medical redlining, i.e. hospitals cutting services for lower-income patients and communities

13. Long waits for emergency care

14. Patients being shifted from hospitals to outpatient and home settings where care is provided by non-RNs or family members

15. Laws and regulations that sacrifice patient safety to the bottom line and erode RN practice

16. Lack of protection for non-union RNs who advocate for better patient care

17. Deskilling of the nursing process by routinizing it, i.e. by fragmenting and standardizing it

18. Standardized clinical protocols that limit RN judgment

19. Manipulation of hospital census numbers to short staff and reduce RN hours

20. Speed-up through understaffing

21. RNs being denied meal and rest breaks via short staffing and manager coercion

22. Support staff cuts

23. Mandatory overtime

24. Attacks on RNs’ hard-won scheduling options

25. Increased employer discipline of nurses on pretexts

26. Exposure to antibiotic-resistant and other hospital-acquired infections

27. Hospitals failing to provide protective equipment or inform nurses of exposure to infected patients

28. Unsafe lift policies and other hazardous working conditions that increase injuries

29. Employers’ failure to enact measures to protect staff and patients from workplace violence

30. Lack of mentorship for new RNs

31. Lack of protection for non-union RNs who blow the whistle on unsafe hospital conditions or billing fraud

32. Crises of conscience for nurses unwilling to work in unsafe settings

33. Nurses leaving the profession due to stress, burnout, or employer-created hostile environment

34. Increased management control through workplace surveillance technologies

35. Surveillance of nurses’ use of social media, such as Facebook and YouTube

36. Use of information technology to displace RNs and override RN professional judgment

37. Technology-driven speed-up

38. Use of information technology to downgrade patient acuity to justify short staffing

39. Electronic charting that forces the RN to focus on a computer rather than on the patient

40. Telemedicine displacing hands-on patient care

41. Medical errors caused by electronic medical record systems and other health information technologies

42. RNs being scapegoated for medical errors actually caused by technology

43. Employers’ isolation of individual RNs through technology adoption and other tactics, undermining senses of unity and community

44. Loss of institutional memory of what nursing was prior to the advent of health IT and other management innovations

45. Federal government tying reimbursement to adoption of health information technology

46. Cuts in or elimination of employerpaid pensions (defined-benefit plans)

47. Employers eliminating health benefits or reducing them by increasing outof- pocket costs, among other changes

48. Reduction of sick leave so nurses are forced to work when sick, a risk to themselves and patients

49. Employers not paying overtime

50. Two-tier wage and benefit structures that pit new RNs against more experienced RNs

51. Reductions in paid continuing education leave for RNs

52. Unpaid hospital internships and preceptorships

53. Attacks on RNs’ hard-won seniority rights

54. Loss of contract-based due process and freedom of speech rights in the workplace

55. Lack of protection against unjust firing or other discipline for non-union RNs

56. Multi-tier healthcare system based on ability to pay

57. Skyrocketing insurance premiums, co-insurance, co-pays, and deductibles

58. Hospitals and physicians making medical decisions based upon insurance coverage

59. Poorer health barometers (such as lower life expectancy) than countries with national health systems

60. Patients delaying preventive care or necessary treatment due to high cost, leading to medical complications

61. Hospital price gouging, billing additional charges for labs, services, and personnel, often without advance patient consent

62. “Non-profit” hospital chains exploiting tax-exempt status for financial gain that vastly exceeds what they provide in community benefits or charity care

63. Medical credit screening being used to track patients based on ability to pay, including requiring advance payment from those least able to pay

64. Healthcare tourism, i.e. patients going out of the county for care 65. Federal government tying reimbursement to “patient satisfaction” scores

66. Hospitals subcontracting travel nurses from outside companies rather than employing RNs directly

67. Increased mergers and acquisitions by big corporate hospital chains resulting in fewer independent and locally-controlled hospitals

68. Hospital and emergency room closures 69. Privatization of public health facilities and services

70. Profitable hospital units being moved to independent medical specialty centers to extract concessions from unions based on budgetary considerations or to justify closing a hospital completely

71. Establishment of for-profit non-acute medical specialty centers to increase profits by evading public oversight

72. Private equity firms buying hospitals to squeeze them for profits, then leaving them drowning in debt

73. Inadequate funding for county and state hospitals and clinics

74. Private hospitals dumping low-income patients on underfunded public hospitals

75. Nurse executive organizations claiming to speak and legislate on behalf of directcare RNs

76. “Nurse leaders” disdainful of directcare nursing

77. Differentiated practice and ANA campaign for requiring BSNs

78. State nursing boards being stacked with employer representatives to reverse RN licensure and practice protections

79. Push for national Compact State Licensure to lower standards for all RNs to lowest state requirements

80. Expansion of scope of practice for LVNs/LPNs and unlicensed staff at the expense of RN scope and jobs, as well as patient safety

81. Layoffs and hiring freezes dictated by budget goals, not patient need

82. Hospitals trying to erode the public’s trust in RNs with ad campaigns attacking RNs as overpaid or unreasonable

83. Loss of collective voice through erosion of union rights

84. Non-RN unions seeking to represent RNs, resulting in low priority for RN practice and workplace needs

85. Weak and partner healthcare unions undermining RNs by accepting concessionary contracts

86. Cuts in nursing programs and reduced access for low-income nursing students

87. Private nursing education increasing debt for new RNs

88. Unemployment among nursing school graduates

89. Corruption of the democratic process by corporate/wealthy spending on lobbying and elections

90. Elimination of public regulatory oversight

91. Nurses supporting extended family members due to the economic crisis

92. Declining health due to economic crisis job loss, home foreclosure, high medical bills, and poor nutrition

93. Environmental degradation increasing preventable illnesses

94. Budget cuts for Medicaid and public health programs

95. Campaigns to cut and privatize Medicare and Social Security

96. Deep, widespread cuts in mental health services

97. Anti-union “right-to-work” laws being extended to more states

98. Weak labor law penalties for employers who violate worker rights

99. Growth of healthcare anti-union industry, including management attorneys, consultants, and strike replacement firms

100. Prevalence of labor-management partnerships in which unions advocate for employers and against the interests of workers and the public

101. Lack of nurses and women generally in leadership roles

Thank you so much to those who have responded to our Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN/National Nurses United) request following the Hurricane Sandy emergency.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we are truly grateful for the dedication of our volunteers.

Currently, these efforts are being handled by local organizations, with the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) taking a key leadership role.  If volunteers from out of the local area are needed, we will contact you. The affected RNs and patients are incredibly grateful for your continued support.

Make a Contribution to the RNRN fund established to support disaster relief services. To donate by mail: Make checks payable to CNF/RNRN and mail them to: CNF/RNRN, 2000 Franklin St. Oakland, CA 94612.
 
Nearly three weeks after the storm, the affected areas continue to have urgent, unmet medical and public health needs. FEMA and HHS officials have told volunteer nurses, doctors and health advocates that the federal government’s hands are tied until the city and state governments request more assistance.

See a video here on NYSNA’s response to Hurricane Sandy.

RNRN and NYSNA Response

In the immediate aftermath of the storm, a group of dedicated NYSNA nurse volunteers fanned out to the hardest hit communities. NYSNA opened up a deployment site that operated out of the organization’s RV located on Miller Field on Staten Island. They began sending RN teams door to door to determine people needs, and provided much needed care to many residents affected by the storm.  At this time they are filling the volunteer needs with New York City area RNs, but may need out of state RNs at a later date.
 
RNRN has been on the ground supporting the efforts of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) to assess the needs at different locations in order for RN volunteers to be fully utilized to fill the long-term public health care needs to the communities most affected.
 
Make shift clinics and door to door assessment teams have been organized by an array of community organizations ranging from Occupy Sandy, NYSNA, and Physicians for a National Health Plan, People’s Medical Relief, and Doctors without Borders to the neighborhood churches and synagogues.

Striking Similarities to Katrina—

There has been a lack of coordination by government and traditional disaster relief organizations such as the Red Cross, the Medical Reserve Corps, Department of Health, and FEMA. The outlying areas closest to the storm that were the hardest hit are still in dire need of basic services and there is a long-term public health need that RNs can fill.

Poor, middle and working class residents are left to their own devices, and makeshift “soup” kitchens pop up on block after block. Most apartments are abandoned, though there are still some residents, even on the lower floors where there is water.  There are many elderly residents who are of particular concern, especially the ones on the higher floors. The stairways are concrete, narrow and pitch black.

The lack of running water, heat and electricity that is slowly coming back to these communities after more than three weeks has created a public health crisis that will be around for a long time—the potential of hypothermia as the temperatures drop, lack of clean running water and fresh food.

NYSNA, along with PNHP, Occupy Sandy, and other community groups, held a press conference at City Hall on Friday, November 16 to send the message to Mayor Bloomberg that, “As RNs we do not accept the conditions patients are forced to live in. Ask that the city immediately request resources from the state and federal governments to: provide life-saving medications and supplies and provide financial and human resources to rebuild existing community health care infrastructures.”

Many hospitals and clinics have been closed due to damage from Hurricane Sandy, and some won’t be open for weeks or months.

Thank you for your ongoing concern and support for those RNs and patients affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Contribute to the RNRN fund established to support disaster relief services.

To donate by mail: Make checks payable to CNF/RNRN and mail them to: CNF/RNRN, 2000 Franklin St. Oakland, CA 94612.

RNRN Disaster Relief Fund: National Nurses United and the Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN) work to send nurses to disaster stricken areas both inside the U.S. and internationally. Please complete this secure donation form and share it with friends to ensure that RNs are among the first responders. RNRN is a project of the NNU and the California Nurses Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Donations are secure, and tax-deductible to the extent of the law.

Thank you,

Registered Nurse Response Network

California Nurses Foundation
2000 Franklin St.
Oakland, CA 94612

Outside the district office of Rep. Charles Rangel, Robin Hood Tax Campaigners from National Nurses United (NNU) and Health GAP found an engaged audience today.  These residents of New York’s Harlem are wondering when the recovery will arrive.  

Their neighborhoods are a mix of shuttered brownstones and half-empty condos, a sign of the realty speculation that somehow, someway never brought decent, affordable housing to Manhattan’s northern-most community.  

It was one of four national Robin Hood actions today repeating the call for a different approach to addressing the economy, with a renewed call for a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street speculation to increase revenues, not more punishing austerity cuts, especially to the vital programs Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Robin Hood activists at New York office of Rep. Charles Rangel

The spirit of speculation lives on in the trading floors and conference rooms of Wall Street.  Financialization, as opposed to a productive economy, is the model being sold, even after the collapse of financial markets in 2008.  

The bailout of these “too-big-to-fail” financial institutions ran up a bill in the trillions, much of it paid from federal tax coffers.   That money needs to be returned to places like Harlem—for jobs, rebuilding, decent retirement, good schools and clean environment.  

That is what the Robin Hood Tax is all about.  It is embodied in Rep. Keith Ellison’s Inclusive Prosperity Act, H.R. 6411, and the RHT Campaign made visits to Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, in addition to Rangel’s offices, to get pledges of support.

“The Robin Hood Tax would provide us with the resources we need to end the AIDS pandemic and fight back against climate change,” said Michael Tikili of Health GAP.  “With disasters like Hurricane Sandy looming, we can no longer look to spending cuts to fix our financial crisis. We need a Robin Hood Tax to give us the revenue we need to end AIDS and fight climate change now.”

Like their last visit to Mr. Rangel, RNs and Health GAP members sought an audience inside the congressman’s office.  No go.   “So we bargained with them to send someone down,” explained Jonathan Weitz of NNU.  
 

Special Assistant Isiah Horton spoke for 20 minutes, in the end explaining Mr. Rangel had spoken with Rep. Ellison and that he still had concerns on how the bill would supposedly affect pensions.  

“The RNs immediately fired back that the law would have a minimal or no effect, would raise up to $350 billion a year for healthcare, education and jobs.”   The Ellison bill in fact for the most part taxes the brokers who make the trade and exempts households with incomes below $75,000 per year.

Across the coast, in Los Angeles, some four dozen nurses and activists rallied outside the district office of Rep. Xavier Becerra.

Some were invited in to meet with Liz Saldivar, district director, who continued to hedge on the bill and said he’d like to see more sponsors of the bill. It already has 18 co-sponsors, a good number for a bill that was only introduced a few weeks ago.

Nurses, activists outside Los Angeles office of Rep. Xavier Becerra.

Dozens more gathered outside the San Francisco district office of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who earlier today announced plans to run for another term as House Minority Leader.

Outside San Francisco office of Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi’s district director Dan Bernal dismissively told the RNs they had a “90 seconds” to talk to him.

Sherri Stoddard, RN (left) told him they were calling on Pelosi to be a leader and support the bill.

Sherri Stoddard, RN told him they were calling on Pelosi to be a leader and support the bill.

The Robin Hood Tax Campaign was also saying at the actions that cuts to essential services – Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the food stamp program – must not be carried out.  

“This country has vast wealth but poor priorities,” said Jean Ross, RN and co-president of National Nurses United, one the founding organizations of the Robin Hood Tax Campaign.  “Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Food Stamp program are the economic bedrock of vast numbers of American families.   To reduce these in any way is to do serious harm and lead to more poverty.   We, as nurses, shudder at the thought of more harm to Americans.  Don’t do it.”

In a meeting with leaders of labor and liberal advocacy groups Tuesday, the President pledged he was not going to “budge” on opposing extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich, and “seemed to agree that Social Security” should not be part of any grand bargain because it “didn’t add to the deficit.”

Yet, the President’s press secretary afterwards told reporters that the President “has put forward a very specific plan that will be what he brings to the table when he sits down with Congressional leaders.” That $4 trillion, 10-year plan includes the commitment to $1.1 trillion in spending cuts that agreed to during the debt ceiling negotiations last year as well as additional spending cuts that include $340 billion in savings from Medicare and Medicaid, the New York Times reported.

Further, in his press conference today, President Obama twice cited his support for “entitlement changes” as part of a fiscal cliff deal.

Robin Hood and company have a different message:

Austerity has no place in America.  It will have the same affects these draconian cuts have had in Europe:  demise, poverty and no growth.

Don’t the Europeans know it.  Millions hit the streets today to protest spending cuts they say have made the economic crisis worse.  General strikes were held in Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italty, with major strikes in France and Belgium and labor actions in cities across the continent.  Flights were cancelled, car factories and ports were at a standstill and trains barely ran in Spain and Portugal where unions held their first ever coordinated general strike.