With President Obama’s 2015 State of the Union speech Tuesday night expected to include calls for higher taxes on capital gains and closure of assorted tax breaks for the 1 percent – on the heels of the recent proposal by Representative Chris Van Hollen, the second top ranked Democrat in the House, for revenue enhancements including a version of a tax on Wall Street – it’s clear the campaign for tax justice is making traction in Washington.

At the forefront of the push for a more equitable tax system have been the Robin Hood Tax activists who have mobilized around the nation for a tax on Wall Street speculation, as embodied in the Inclusive Prosperity Act introduced by Rep. Keith Ellison, with some 28 co-sponsors.

Nurses have long been in the forefront of the call for a Robin Hood Tax.

National Nurses United, for example, that the Robin Hood Tax could generate hundreds of billions of dollars every year “to provide a critical lifeline for improving the health and safety of people in the U.S. and across the globe – from ending HIV/AIDS, to reducing the effects of the climate crisis, including the widespread health problems caused by climate change, to paying for the unfinished job of healthcare for all in the U.S.,” notes NNU Co-President Karen Higgins, RN.

While the Obama administration has yet to support the concept of the Wall Street tax – and in fact actively opposed the proposed European Financial Transaction Tax – the President’s call for those who have benefited from growing disparity of wealth to return some of that wealth for education and retirement benefits is a step forward.

An even bigger step would be active promotion of a robust tax on Wall Street – the source of the economic crisis in 2008 that put so many families and communities in crisis.

Van Hollen goes farther with his proposal, becoming the first figure in the Democratic leadership in Washington to embrace a financial transaction tax already adopted in some 40 countries around the world, including in many of the leading global markets and closest U.S. allies abroad.

It’s a clear sign that the concept of a more just tax system is gaining traction, even if neither the Van Hollen proposal nor the President’s go far enough. The Van Hollen idea, for example, does not raise nearly enough revenue, because the tax rate is too small, and is intended to provide a tax cut for middle income taxpayers when the funds are desperately needed to meet the human needs so neglected by years of austerity economics and conservative priorities.

Unfortunately, Van Hollen accepts the Republicans’ conservative premise that what working people need is a tax cut rather than government social programs that will help everyone.  A tax cut won’t repair our bridges, it won’t help clean up the environment, it won’t fund our schools, and it won’t cure the HIV/AIDS pandemic. 

Rep. Ellison’s bill, on the other hand, soon to be re-introduced, would raise hundreds of billions of dollars every year for such critical needs as ending attacking mushrooming student debt, helping pay for jobs at living wages, affordable housing, a clean environment, and enhanced retirement security, as well as healthcare for all and other basic needs.

What the Obama Administration and Rep. Van Hollen proposals have in common is an emphasis on re-directing tax cuts from the rich to the rest of us. This is a treatment of the symptom, but not the cure.

The Ellison bill would spark real change for American families. By encouraging employers to share the wealth with their employees, Van Hollen’s bill is a start, but the Robin Hood tax only works if it is the lever for requiring reckless speculators to pay their fair share of the cost of addressing the climate crisis, providing healthcare for all or retooling public educational system.

We in the Robin Hood Tax movement have worked hard to keep each other informed about what is the most economically just cause of our time – closing the largest, money-draining loophole in our system to provide the funds we need to rebuild America. – See more at: http://www.robinhoodtax.org/news/blog/tax-wallstreet-goes-beyond-treating-symptom

With a settlement that is likely to elevate RN standards across the nation, California Nurses Association/National Nurses announced a major tentative contract agreement for 18,000 California RNs who work at Kaiser Permanente hospitals and clinics. The deal will give the RNs a stronger voice on patient care, and breakthrough improvements in workplace protections.

The agreement also provides significant economic gains and additional retirement security.

While the pact must still be ratified by the RNs, who will hold membership meetings beginning next Wednesday, CNA is cancelling a strike that had been scheduled for Jan. 21 – 22. The agreement affects registered nurses and nurse practitioners who work in 86 Kaiser Permanente hospitals and clinics in Northern and Central California, from Santa Rosa to Fresno.

CNA/NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro paid tribute to the “unity of the Kaiser RNs and their devotion to assuring the highest level of quality care for patients as well as protections for the nurses who deliver that care.”

“We look forward to a new chapter in our interactions with Kaiser,” DeMoro added. “We especially appreciate the commitment of Kaiser’s leadership to addressing our concerns, including working through the complicated problems associated with the changes in health care delivery, some of them related to the Affordable Care Act, and the attention it has paid in this contract to the health and safety of its registered nurses as well as patients.” 

A key to the settlement was the agreement by Kaiser to establish a new committee of direct care RNs and NPs who will work with management to address the concerns RNs have about care standards in Kaiser facilities.

“This is a great day for Kaiser patients and nurses,” said Zenei Cortez, RN, chair of the Kaiser RN bargaining team and a co-president of CNA. “We have an agreement that will strengthen the ability of Kaiser RNs to provide the optimal level of care our patients deserve, while establishing additional security for nurses. I am so proud of the Kaiser RNs and NPs who worked so hard for so long for this day.”

“This agreement is a great achievement,” added Diane McClure, a Sacramento Kaiser RN and nurse negotiator. “We are especially excited about the expanded opportunity for new RN grads and trainees in Kaiser and the protections this agreement offers for RNs and our families.”

Among other major components of the agreement:

• Kaiser will hire hundreds of RNs which the nurses say should substantially improve the quality of care for hospitalized patients, as well as signaling a renewed commitment to RN training and employment opportunities for new RN graduates at a time many hospitals have frozen RN hires.
• Groundbreaking workplace protections for nurses from workplace violence to infectious diseases like Ebola to needle stick injuries. 
• Substantial economic gains for RNs and NPs, many of them the sole source of income for their families or extended families. Over the three years of the agreement, all the nurses will receive 14 percent pay increases through across the board hikes and lump sum payments.
• Additional long-term retirement security for Kaiser RNs and NPs through maintenance of a secure pension plan plus a substantial increase in employer contributions to the nurses’ 401k pension plans for the 87 percent of Kaiser RNs with those plans.
• Annual paid release time, the first in the nation, for 25 RNs every year to participate in NNU’s disaster relief program, the Registered Nurse Response Network, which has dispatched hundreds of RNs to provide basic medical services following U.S. and global disasters from Hurricane Katrina to the Haiti earthquake to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. 

CNA said it also committed to helping National Union of Healthcare Worker Kaiser workers, including mental health clinicians, achieve a contract agreement as well.

National Nurses United supports the White House’s new community college initiative – a move that would open doors for a new generation of registered nurses.

“Millions of young women have long counted on our community colleges as their means to obtain an associate degree in nursing. These programs are essential for nurses, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds or underreported communities to achieve their dreams in providing quality care for patients, and their communities, as well as securing economic opportunity for themselves and their families,” said NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro.

Under the proposed deal, the federal government would cover 75 percent of the cost with the states paying for the rest.

“Yet the ADN degree has come under increasing attack by the corporatized healthcare industry,” DeMoro said, noting the growing numbers of hospitals seeking to restrict hiring and advancement to RNs with four-year degrees.

Reducing the cost of education and lessening students’ loans will expand opportunities and ultimately incomes, especially for women and communities of color, she said.

Everyone benefits from an overall nursing workforce that more closely resembles the population in racial, as well as socio-economic diversity.

Ultimately, NNU said the U.S. should move toward improving access to education at all levels, such as making all higher education tuition free. One way to achieve that would be enactment of a small fee on Wall Street transactions of stocks, bonds, derivatives and other financial instruments, the Robin Hood Tax, which could be used in part to pay for equal access to education for all.

“With this initiative, the White House is planting the seeds for a better educated workforce, a better economy, and a better America,” DeMoro said. “Congress should welcome this proposal and work with the President to bring it to fruition.”

Last week, we participated in the People’s Climate Summit march in Lima, Peru. The march wove through busy Lima streets, blocking traffic and shutting down large parts of the downtown area. It ended at Plaza San Martin, a central plaza surrounded by beautiful colonial buildings. The plaza was filled with drumming, music, and chanting. Banners and flags waved in the air calling for climate justice.

Thousands participated including indigenous from the Andes and the Amazon of Peru and across South America. People from all parts of the world were present. We were happy to see large numbers of international labor organizations participating and the showing of labor from Peru was impressive. There were thousands of union workers in the streets from all industries – public services, construction, transportation, health and many more.

The Peruvian nurses are known for their presence in demonstrations and for supporting climate justice, as well as other social causes. We met nurses from Lima and from many other villages in Peru. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to sit down with Zoila Cotrina Diaz, the president of the Peruvian Nurses Federation, and some of her colleagues. Their union is exclusively for registered nurses and they represent 20,000 nurses from across the country.

As we heard about their struggles, we were reminded that nursing issues are very similar no matter where you are on the globe. While Peru has a public health system, it is fragmented and leaves out the most vulnerable. Two million Peruvians are without access to health care. They are mostly indigenous and those from remote villages.

The Peruvian nurses are running campaigns essentially the same as our single-payer fight, demanding equal access and quality care for everybody. Their contract disputes are with the government and while they have many hard-won victories under their belts, they are still fighting. They have had multiple strikes, some which have lasted for over a month. The biggest issue at the bargaining table is safe staffing, which should sound familiar.

They’re working hard to achieve ratio language and have achieved 1:2 in adult intensive care units and some limits in acute care as well. The problem is that the hospitals frequently don’t follow the ratios. We heard stories of nurses taking up to 40 patients with only the help of an unlicensed technician at times.

The nurses of Peru are very active in fighting the climate crisis. The air pollution in Lima is extremely bad. Despite its coastal location, the high mountains behind the city trap the air in place, leaving a visible smog hanging over the city constantly. Two other issues Peru faces is the rapid deforestation of the Amazon by logging companies (many of them operating illegally) and the excessive mining industry, which is contaminating air and water supplies.

They are sharing the same message that we are with the world: The climate crisis is a health care crisis and we must stop using fossil fuels and move to clean renewable energy.

They also believe that energy should be controlled by the people, not corporations and share in our vision of energy democracy.

I was grateful to meet our sisters and brothers in Peru and I am touched to know that we have allies fighting alongside us from south of the equator.

RNs head to Peru to share message at United Nations Climate Change Summit

Today, I am on my way to Lima, Peru as part of a small delegation from National Nurses United going to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Summit 20th yearly Conference of the Parties (COP 20).

World leaders are coming together with the goal of negotiating the foundations of a new international climate agreement that would be completed in Paris in 2015 (COP 21).  This is critical if we are to avoid climate catastrophe. 

Our delegation will share what I consider to be a big missing piece at the conference – the human health perspective.  As nurses, we will highlight the fact that the climate crisis is a public health crisis. 

People often ask me what a nurse is doing advocating for climate justice and I tell them this:  The World Health Organization’s latest study concludes that 1 in 8 deaths globally are now attributable to air pollution. One in eight!  And that doesn’t take into account illness and deaths caused by toxins in our water and soil nor the impacts of extreme weather events on human health.  Human health is absolutely dependent on healthy air, water and food supply.  The current system is not sustainable in terms of human health. 

We also bring the labor component to the table.  We support a just transition and an economy for the 99%.  We need to move from an extractive economy (carbon spewing fossil fuels) to a restorative and renewable economy (solar, wind, energy democracy).  The Robin Hood Tax could go a long way towards funding such a just transition, where real jobs, education, healthcare and retirement with dignity are funded instead of corporate subsidies. 

I can’t begin to express how important this is for me personally, as a mother of two, as a registered nurse of 25 years, as a human being on planet earth.  I have to admit I have been a bit obsessed with the climate crisis for the last five years or so, even going to business school for an MBA in sustainable enterprise.  My education convinced me of what I already knew – that business and government are not going to get us out of this crisis.  We are the solution, you and I, regular folks standing up and saying we are not willing to stand idle any longer while we watch our ecosystems destroyed, and our very own health being compromised every moment of every day.  Who better than nurses to come to the international political table and be a part of this conversation?

The international politicians and policy makers need a dose of nursing advocacy, a dose of National Nurses United and Global Nurses United style action.  I am optimistic that our delegation will do just that.  I am so excited to be a part of this.  I look forward to keeping you all posted of the goings on in Lima.