Nurses across the country are risking their lives to protect all of us during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s our turn to stand with them. Show your gratitude today by signing our card thanking your local nurse! https://bit.ly/2V3e8MK
A national network of rank-and-file activists is organizing a National Day of Action on Tax Day, April 15. We reproduce their list of demands and their call to action.
NATIONAL HEALTH CARE DAY OF ACTION ON TAX DAY, APRIL 15
TELL THE WORLD: #THESYSTEMISBROKEN
We are health care workers on the front lines of the pandemic. Please support our National Day of Action on Tax Day, April 15, to tell the world that #TheSystemIsBroken and demand that we reorganize the U.S. health care system to prioritize the interests of patients over those of billionaires and corporations.
Our private, for-profit health care system has left us with a deep scarcity of resources and properly trained health care workers. We are not heroes and we did not enlist to die in our jobs due to government inaction and corporate greed. The pandemic has clearly exposed why critical infrastructure, including our country’s health care, cannot be left to the market.
The mass graves being dug for tomorrow are made deeper by the political choices made today. We call for the U.S. health care system to be treated like road maintenance, garbage disposal, education, fire protection, and any other vital component of our social infrastructure. The entire system, from the production of drugs and medical supplies to hospitals and health clinics, should be nationalized and publicly administered on behalf of our communities rather than privately owned and operated for the benefit of billionaires and corporations. Faced with a lack of gloves, masks, beds and staff, both Spain and Ireland have nationalized their health care systems to better coordinate the distribution of critical resources.
Our government must put patients over profits by directing and coordinating the manufacture and distribution of vital medical resources and guaranteeing that everyone is provided the quality health care they need with Medicare for All.
EXAMPLES OF ACTIONS YOUR GROUPS CAN TAKE:
We demand that every health care worker be provided the PPE they need to keep themselves, their families, and their patients safe: #PPEoverProfits. Using the Defense Production Act, we can use our country’s manufacturing capacity to make gowns, N-95 masks, and ventilators. It is not enough for some private companies to voluntarily begin manufacturing the resources we need. We need the government to mandate that companies begin producing them and that we produce a surplus not only for the United States but for all the other countries that face a scarcity.
We need coordination of resources, not competition. Hospital systems and states should not be in competition with one another for supplies. Nobody should be afraid of not getting the care they need because of where they live or because their hospital is not at the front of the line for ventilators. We need a system for distributing PPE and other supplies based on need rather than who has the deepest pockets or favorable political connections. We know that the disease strikes particular regions before others. For example, New York City is hit hard now. Rather than states stockpiling resources and waiting their turn, those resources should be sent to where they are needed. It is essential that frontline workers and their unions be at the table with state and federal government officials to ensure that resources are distributed to the hospitals and areas that need it most, when they need it.
We demand mandatory safe staffing in every hospital. Health care workers are being assigned far more high-acuity patients than they can safely care for. Health care workers at Detroit’s Sinai-Grace Hospital, for example, have sometimes had as few as two nurses caring for 26 patients on 10 ventilators. These courageous workers staged a work stoppage on April 6 to alert the public to the dire situation. Frontline workers should be running the staffing offices and determining the staffing levels appropriate in our workplaces.
We must train nurses now. Due to lack of PPE and a big drop in lucrative elective procedures, many hospitals across the country are laying off nurses and other staff at the exact moment we should be training them and preparing them to provide critical care to highly infectious patients. Nurses cannot be expected to give critical care without proper training.
Child care for health care workers. Daycares and schools have made the appropriate decision to close, but this has left health care workers, who are often working long hours for many days in a row, with the challenge of finding others who will risk exposing themselves to the virus by watching their children. This is not a personal problem, but a social issue to be addressed by the government and our employers with free, universal child care for health care workers.
House health care workers in union hotels to protect their families. Due to the lack of testing and PPE, every time health care workers go home to their families they risk exposing them to the virus.
Medicare for All. With layoffs skyrocketing, millions of people are left without insurance for themselves and their families. No one who seeks the medical care they need and deserve in this moment should be left with a bill. Hospitals should not be making decisions to cut costs in fear of the impending budget crunch they will face. The solution is simple and clear: we need a single-payer system and we need it now.
Postal workers are keeping our country moving and US economy working for us during this time of crisis – getting prescriptions delivered to people sheltering in place, making e-commerce possible and keeping families connected. It is the emergency distribution system when our country is in crisis.
But at this unprecedented time, that work is under threat. The Coronavirus shutdown is plummeting postal revenues while increasing costs. The Postal Service could run out of money as early as June.
The loss of the USPS would shatter our response to the Coronavirus pandemic, hit already weakened businesses, and ravage communities. Our public Postal Service needs all American leaders – Democrats and Republicans alike – to provide urgent and ongoing financial support from the Federal Government during this public health and economic crisis.
Add your name. Email your Congress members now.
Smart Justice During Covid-19: Amplifying Impacted Voices
Continuing our ongoing series of discussions about COVID-19 and Smart Justice, the ACLU of Wisconsin is holding another virtual town hall this Wednesday (April 15th) at 6:30 pm that will center the experiences of directly impacted people, elevating their voices and insight during this time of unprecedented crisis.
You can join us on Zoom by registering in advance (required) here: https://zoom.us/j/99548108367?pwd=ckc3czlLcEx4Mkl1TWxHbUZ2dGJRQT09
Workers Seize Power – Virtual International Workers Day
(Spanish below) On International Workers Day 2020 we will host a virtual forum, but are still planning to hold our annual OSF March and Rally on Labor Day, September 7.
This virus has shown both the importance of workers and their power, but also the vulnerability when we are not organized to leverage our collective power and also the need for us to unite.
For the May 1st Virtual Forum, please pre-register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_p0RDu16oQuKIx38JvCHxEg So that we can have a secure event, when you register you’ll be given a link unique to you. Please don’t share that link with others. Instead, share the pre-registration link above.
We’ll have a two part panel, starting at 3PM.
The first panel will feature Resource Speakers, offering info on resources for workers, housing, and health.
The second panel at 4pm will be a panel discussion featuring organizers leading campaigns around prisons, detention centers, housing, labor and racial equity in these times.
We will be Doing simultaneous translation:
Spanish
Arabic
Tagalog
Mandarin
En el Día Internacional de los Trabajadores de 2020 seremos los anfitriones de un foro virtual, pero todavía estamos planeando realizar nuestra marcha y mitin anual del OSF en el Día del Trabajo, el 7 de septiembre.
Este virus ha mostrado tanto la importancia de los trabajadores y su poder, pero también la vulnerabilidad cuando no estamos organizados para aprovechar nuestro poder colectivo y también la necesidad de unirnos.
Para el Foro Virtual del 1 de mayo, por favor preinscríbase aquí: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_p0RDu16oQuKIx38JvCHxEg Para que podamos tener un evento seguro, cuando se inscriba se le dará un enlace exclusivo para usted. Por favor, no comparta ese enlace con otros. En su lugar, comparta el enlace de preinscripción anterior.
Tendremos un panel de dos partes, a partir de las 3PM.
El primer panel tendrá oradores de recursos, que ofrecerán información sobre recursos para los trabajadores, la vivienda y la salud.
El segundo panel a las 4pm será un panel de discusión con organizadores que lideran campañas en torno a las prisiones, centros de detención, vivienda, trabajo y equidad racial en estos tiempos.
Traducción simultánea en:
Espanol
Arabe
Tagalog
Manderin
Who We Are
Service workers are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We get paid when we work and when we work we provide a service. Service workers need immediate relief.
Many of us are displaced, laid off, or under-employed, losing income. Some of us are “essential” and working in jobs that expose us to contracting the virus. Some of us are working because we cannot afford not to, jeopardizing our own health and that of others every time we work. All of us are anxious in this moment. But for many of us, anxieties and struggles for service sector work are nothing new.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created public health and economic crises both. The most recent federal stimulus/bailout provides some needed relief, but by no means enough.
What We Need
Who We Need to Act
We need action from those who can address the crises. Fellow service workers, join us in calling on government leaders to take action now, at the local, state, and federal levels for the needs of service workers.
More than three weeks ago, on March 12, Governor Evers declared a public health emergency in Wisconsin. Since then, we have seen cases of COVID-19 proliferate and the burden to our already-fragile healthcare system grow. Every day, health care workers show up to care for patients, at great risk to ourselves and our families, because of inadequate protection and supplies and limited policies that do not reflect the gravity of this crisis. The time for action is now.
Wisconsin healthcare workers are calling on our state legislative leaders to bring the legislature into session immediately to address the needs of frontline workers.
Sign petition: https://bit.ly/2wDxwXk
Amid the pandemic, she recently took a break to talk with The Indypendent about how the South Bronx is mobilizing against COVID-19 as well as the Cuban medical system that has inspired her life’s work…. https://indypendent.org/
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the lives of millions of working people and our families. Select your state to find the resources, programs and benefits available in your area to assist you during this crisis. https://bit.ly/2Kc3ld3
Sign Petition: https://bit.ly/2wCDTdq
Frontline healthcare workers are doing everything they can to keep patients, communities and themselves alive during this crisis. But too many don’t have the personal protective equipment (PPE), the medical equipment, or the tests they need. This administration must immediately invoke the Defense Production Act to manufacture much needed equipment, and release PPE from the Strategic Defense Stockpile. Essential workers lives’ are on the line! #GetMePPE
