Join Citizen & Health Care Activists for
State House Rally on November 1st -
Protest Cuts in Needed Programs & Services
The MNA is proud to be a co-sponsor of a Nov. 1st Rally at the State House to protest cuts in desperately needed programs and services. Please share this with your email networks and attend the rally if you can.
Join Us for Umbrella Day
Nov. 1, 2001 at 11 AM
Massachusetts State House
(Gardner Auditorium)
The Massachusetts Legislature is about to cut funding for programs for children, senior citizens and people with disabilities while Rainy Day Funds go untapped and Tax Cuts are scheduled. Join us for this Rally and tell your elected representative that now is the time to protect the health, education, housing, childcare and other programs we depend on.
USE THE RAINY DAY FUNDS! KEEP OUR PROGRAMS COVERED!
Cosponsors to-date include:
* Mass AFL-CIO
* Mass Home Care Association
* Mass Human Services Coalition
* Mass Nurses Association
* Mass Senior Action Council
* Neighbor to Neighbor
* Tax Equity Alliance for Massachusetts
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Fourth Annual Dr. Benjamin Gill Memorial Award Dinner
Saturday evening, November 10, 2001
Awardee: Phil Mamber, President, Massachusetts Senior Action Council
Keynote: US Representative John Tierney
MC: Margaret O¹Malley, RN
Named in honor of the late Ben Gill, psychiatrist, tireless single-payer activist and benefactor of the Universal Health Care Education Fund, the education and research arm of the Massachusetts Campaign for Single Payer Health Care (MASS-CARE), this annual event draws together scores of health reform leaders and supporters, and raises needed funds to continue this work. Individual tickets are $50 and must be purchased in advance (800-383-1973). There may be several seats left at the MNA table, so MNA members should contact Peg O¹Malley right away (pego@javanet.com) to take advantage of the benefit of membership.
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Portland health referendum may send message to rest of state
<http://www.boston.com/dailynews/301/region/Portland_health_referendum_may:.shtml>
by Jerry Harkavy, Associated Press
October 28, 2001
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) The first referendum in Maine to test public support for a single-payer health care system drew little attention until opponents launched an advertising blitz on television that they plan to continue up to Election Day.
The costly campaign by the health insurance industry may have raised the stakes in Portland's Nov. 6 nonbinding vote on a resolution supporting creation of a system of universal health care.
The TV ads have spread awareness of the advisory referendum beyond Maine's largest city to much of southern and central Maine, amplifying the potential impact of a ballot question that gives the winner bragging rights as the health care debate shifts to the state level.
Activists pushing for a single-payer system have traditionally directed their efforts at the federal government, but some are beginning to view the states as more receptive to the idea.
Referendum backers note that Canada's single-payer system got its start in the sparsely populated rural province of Saskatchewan before the government in Ottawa expanded coverage to everyone.
Duncan Wright, a Portland psychiatrist who is helping to spearhead the upcoming referendum, suggested that Maine is a good candidate to lead the way in the United States.
''We're a rural state. We're not wealthy. But we have a humane political tradition. I think we can do it. We can be the first,'' he said.
Characterizing the referendum as a public relations ploy, opponents are equally adamant about the need to defeat the resolution in order to keep the single-payer idea from spreading.
''This is the first salvo in a statewide battle,'' said Daryn Demeritt, campaign coordinator for Citizens for Sensible Health Care Choices. ''If we defeat it here, it will send a clear message.''
The Maine Legislature last year rejected a proposal to create a $3.4 billion single-payer system that would be administered by the state. Instead, it created a Health Security Board to study universal health care in Maine and report back to lawmakers by next March.
The proposal's sponsor, Rep. Paul Volenik, D-Brooklin, said the Portland referendum is a sign that the single-payer issue is beginning to resonate at the local level.
''Just the fact that the insurance industry is putting a lot of money into television ads shows that they're worried about this,'' Volenik said. ''Win or lose, it's a wake up call for the people.''
The Portland ballot question is the latest in a series organized by the Labor Party, a 5-year-old political party with chapters in 26 states, which has conducted similar referendums that won approval in Massachusetts and Florida. Its partners in the Portland campaign include the Maine Peoples Alliance, the Portland Democratic Committee, the Portland Independent Greens and the Maine State AFL-CIO.
Activists promoting the referendum say they may launch similar campaigns in other municipalities around the state. Two towns under consideration are Farmington and South Paris, Wright said.
The resolution calls on Portland to encourage a system of universal health care and require its Health and Human Services Department to prepare an annual report to the City Council about the benefits to be derived from such a system.
Maintaining that the current system is unfair and inefficient, supporters say Portland can send a strong message in support of a single-payer mechanism that provides comprehensive, high-quality health care to everyone.
Opponents acknowledge that the current system is imperfect, but they caution that scrapping it in favor of a government-run health care system would raise taxes and limit consumer choice.
They say a system like Canada's would mean longer waits for treatment and limited access to specialists and prescription drugs. Their ads cite estimates that single-payer would cost Portland residents an additional $170 million a year in taxes.
The first inkling Portland-area residents may have had of the referendum came this month when TV stations began airing the opposition ads, which feature a local doctor, a nurse, a pharmacist and members of the public.
Campaign finance reports filed with the city as of Oct. 3 show that opponents raised $35,000, all of it from Anthem, the state's largest health insurer. Supporters, who reported no contributions as of that date, say they expect insurers to spend $250,000 or more on the campaign.
Anthem spokesman Bill Cohen would not specify a spending figure, but made it plain that the company, with 1,800 employees in Maine, has a commitment to the state that it is prepared to defend.
''We at Anthem believe that you don't throw away a system that insures 88 percent of the market in order to increase taxes, limit choices, ration care and have what we think would be second-tier quality in order to go into a government-run, one-size-fits-all program,'' Cohen said.
© Copyright 2001 Boston Globe Electronic Publishing Inc.
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UMass Memorial settles Ground Zero pay dispute
<http://www.telegram.com/extra/terror/html/wmedteam.html>
by Bronislaus B. Kush, Worcester Telegram & Gazette
October 16, 2001
WORCESTER -- UMass Memorial Health Care Inc. officials balked at paying the wages of nurses sent to New York City to aid rescuers searching for victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, union officials have charged.
Massachusetts Nurses Association officials said that UMass Memorial administrators wanted emergency nurses to use their vacation time for the 12 days spent helping with the mammoth relief and recovery effort in lower Manhattan.
UMass Memorial officials, however, contend that they expected the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pick up the tab for salaries.
And although union and administration officials recently hammered out a compromise giving the nurses 40 hours of vacation time, the unanticipated dispute has left a sour taste among many UMass Memorial employees, already demoralized by sizable drastic cuts in the work force and programs as a result of a mounting deficit.
³A lot of people were appalled,² said Kate Maker, chairwoman of the local MNA unit.
The UMass Memorial community rallied when the federal government mobilized a special 56-member medical team based at the nonprofit institution to provide medical assistance after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Many flag-waving co-workers turned out Sept. 23 when team members returned by bus to the medical center's University Campus on Plantation Street.
Much of the good will, however, evaporated when questions arose as to how the nurses who participated would be compensated.
Both sides agree that the federal government normally foots the bill for salaries when emergency personnel are called up.
But nurses at UMass Memorial, who are represented by the MNA, have a provision in their contract that provides for compensation in cases of ³humanitarian leave.²
That clause was at the heart of the dispute between union and administration officials.
In 1997, both sides agreed to contract language stipulating that nurses would be paid for leaves granted for humanitarian purposes.
The clause was used to cover trips made frequently by UMass Memorial teams to Third World nations.
Under the language, leave would be granted if six weeks notice were given and if enough personnel were available to fill in at UMass Memorial.
Because of the immediacy of the Sept. 11 incidents, union officials argue that six weeks of notice could not be given.
³The terrorists didn't tell us they were going to attack,² said one nurse.
Union officials said that supervisors ³excused² employees to take part in the relief effort.
UMass Memorial spokeswoman Allison Duffy, however, said it was the administration's understanding that the federal government pays the salaries of medical personnel ³mobilized² for disasters.
She said that employees scrambled to fill out special federal reimbursement forms before traveling to New York City.
Meetings were held to resolve the matter and officials on both sides hammered out a compromise, allowing participating nurses to ³bank² 40 hours of vacation time for the time spent in New York.
Union officials said the issue was worth fighting because of the difference in what the federal government was willing to pay and the negotiated salaries of nurses.
Ms. Maker said the federal government pays $16 to $18 an hour for nurses called up for disaster situations.
But according to Roland Goff, who negotiates contracts for the MNA, about 50 percent of UMass Memorial nurses are at the top of the wage scale and make about $32 per hour.
³That's quite a difference,² said Mr. Goff, noting the humanitarian leave is unique among MNA contracts. ³In theory, it's like jury duty. If you don't have something in your contract, you get something like $25 a day for serving.²
Ms. Maker said UMass Memorial officials promised to reformulate policies regarding humanitarian leave. She said the union expects to bring up the matter when the current contract expires next year.
It was unclear if other UMass Memorial workers who helped out at Ground Zero had difficulty getting paid for the time they spent in New York.
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials could not be reached for comment.
©2001 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp.
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Doctor offers remedy for political process
<http://www.telegram.com/news/inside/stein.htmlEDT>
by Martin Luttrell, Worcester Telegram & Gazette
October 09, 2001
WORCESTER-- Vowing to make universal health care, affordable housing, clean elections and environmental health priority issues, Jill Stein launched her campaign yesterday as a Green Party candidate for governor.
³It is time to transform politics in Massachusetts,² she said, standing among about 20 supporters during a press conference in front of City Hall. ³Democracy is in decline. Just 1 percent provides 85 percent of the funding for political campaigns.
³Clean Elections passed three years ago, supported by two-thirds of the voters in this state, but it has not been implemented. ... We deserve better government than we have. If we keep voting for candidates we can't trust, we'll keep getting government we can't trust.²
Dr. Stein's Worcester stop was one of five across the state yesterday, beginning in her hometown of Lexington. She said the Green Party would be the only one on the ballot next year not funded by special interests.
The Clean Elections Law gives tax dollars to candidates who agree to limit how much money they will raise and spend. In the spirit of Clean Elections, Dr. Stein's campaign has refused to accept contributions larger than $100. Some 6,000 contributions of $5 to $100 each will be needed by the campaign to qualify for Clean Elections funding, according to her campaign literature.
³I am not a politician. I don't have the qualifications,² she said. ³I haven't been on a booze cruise, and I haven't been involved in legislative wheelings and dealings. I don't want to learn, either.
³As a practicing medical doctor, I know how to listen to people. As a public health advocate ... I know how to listen to the wisdom of mothers and nurses who are shut out from the corridors of power. What I've learned is that it's time for a change. It's time to put the voters back in charge of their government.²
Dr. Stein said she aims to forge a broad coalition founded on the principles of public health, social justice, sustainability and democracy, and take government out of the hands of ³short-sighted special interests and return it to the stewardship of voters.²
She was joined by representatives from the Rainbow Coalition and the fields of labor and medicine, who spoke in support of her candidacy.
³Jill Stein is a good person, and she's unburdened by political baggage,² said Gordon T. Davis, a member of the Worcester Area Rainbow Coalition. ³The Democratic and Republican parties have sold us out.²
University of Massachusetts Medical School professor Dr. John Walsh, a member of Physicians for a National Health Program, said 40 million Americans are without adequate health care. The remedy is a national health care system, he said, adding that Massachusetts could be a good starting point.
³It's a laudable goal, and it can be achieved,² he said. ³It could provide coverage for everybody, and we could afford it. Why hasn't it been done? The HMOs, the insurance agencies and pharmaceutical companies don't want it. It will eat into their profits. Their faithful servants on Beacon Hill don't want it.
³We can do it like Canada, one province at a time. We can be the Saskatchewan of the U.S. Jill Stein will be the vehicle to bring that change.²
After yesterday's campaign stop, Dr. Stein said people had been enthusiastic about her candidacy. ³People feel there is need for a change,² she said. ³We're fresh and unencumbered. We don't carry the baggage of corporate interest.²
Dr. Stein, a longtime health and environmental advocate, is the co-author of the report ³In Harm's Way,² on the effect of toxic exposures on child development. She graduated from Harvard University in 1973 before entering Harvard Medical School. She practices at the Simmons College Health Center and is on staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
©2001 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp.
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Canadian Auto Workers union critical of Bill C-36
<http://www.newswire.ca/releases/October2001/17/c7525.html>
Toronto, October 17, 2001
Afghan People Need Our Solidarity
<http://action.web.ca/home/clcadmin/alerts.shtml?AA_SL_Session=7c6bd667b34d6b9ec5472e611df59ca0&sh_itm=2817865cb01fd7d8cba8f093401e9608>
Canadian Labour Congress
Bombing is immoral, unnecessary, counterproductive
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Congress of South African Trade Unions
Statement on the US Attacks on Afghanistan
<http://www.cosatu.org.za/press/2001/COSATU_statement_on_the_US_attacks_on_Afghanistan--27339.html>
08 October 2001
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Nurses launch zero tolerance for violence campaign
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Public Health Under the Scope
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Armed Conflict: Nurse¹s Perspective
<http://www.icn.ch/psarmed.htm>
International Council of Nurses, Adopted in 1999
Statement to the (United Methodist) Church on
the Terrorist Attacks and the US Response
<http://www.umc-gbcs.org/gbpr126.htm>
October 13, 2001
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All I Am Saying Is Give War a Chance
by Michael Moore, AlterNet
October 8, 2001
It's about time! I was beginning to worry that George II didn't have it in him, that he might wander off to vacation in Omaha again. But finally, the bombs are raining down on Afghanistan and, as Martha Stewart says, that's a good thing.
Oh, don't get me wrong -- I deplore war and killing and violence. But, hey, I'm a pragmatist, I know where I live, this is America and dammit, somebody's ass had to get kicked!
Our Leader, a former baseball club owner, could have at least had the decency to wait one more day until the baseball season was over. Poor Barry Bonds -- will anyone even remember what he did a month from now? At least Fox had the good grace to get the football game back on the tube within an hour of the war's start! They KNEW none of us could stomach looking at Stepford Drones from Fox News for the rest of the day.
Fellow liberals, lefties, Greens, workers, and even you loveable Gore voters and recovering Democrats -- let me tell you why I think this war on Afghanistan is good for all of us:
1. Network Unanimity in Naming The War. It has been so confusing the past four weeks, what with all the networks calling this thing we are in by so many names: "America's New War," "American Under Attack," America Fights Back," "War on Terrorism," etc. Now, nearly every network has settled on "America Strikes Back."
I like this because, first of all, it honors George Lucas. We're a humble people, we Americans, so we can't quite bring ourselves to call it "The Empire Strikes Back." "Empire" sounds a little scary, and there's no use reminding the rest of the world that we call all the shots now. So "America Strikes Back" is appropriate (and, as Sunday was the last day of baseball, "strikes" has the necessary sports metaphor we like to use when bombing other countries).
2. The Citizenry Can Now Go Back to What They Were Doing. I don't know about you, but nearly four weeks of anxious and tense anticipation of what would happen next was starting to wear me down. I thought nothing could top what spending the whole summer agonizing over whose baby it was on "Friends" did to me.
But the last four weeks was worse than a bad classic rock extended drum solo. NOW we have resolution. NOW we know the ending -- the bombing to smithereens of a country so advanced it has, to date, laid a total of 18 miles of railroad tracks throughout the entire country! How very 19th century of them! I hope our missiles were able to take them out. I don't want this thing going on forever. Best that we obliterate them before they come up with some smart idea like the telegraph.
3. Dick Cheney Has Been Moved Into Hiding Again. This can only help. The farther this mastermind can be kept from young Bush, the better. He's like that creepy friend of your dad's who has taken a bit too much of a shine to you. Wait -- he is that creepy friend of his dad's! Anytime I hear they have transported Cheney out of town and into a bunker in the woods, I feel safe. And don't worry about him having any workable form of communications with Bush -- remember, this is a government which discovers that a known terrorist is taking flying lessons in Florida and does nothing.
4. Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Orrin Hatch Will All Be Fighting This War for Us! These are all honorable men, men of their word, men who would not expect someone else to fight their battles for them. They have all called for war, revenge, blood -- and, by God, it is blood I want them to have! Now that we are at war, let us insist that those who have cried the loudest for the killing be the first to go and do just that!
I would like to see, by the end of the day, Rush and Bill, Orrin and the rest of their colleagues down at the recruiting station signing up to join the U.S. Army. Sure, I know they are no longer young, but there are many jobs they will be able to do once they get through the Khyber Pass. Surely these men would not expect our sons and daughters to die for something that they themselves would not be willing to die for.
Get your butts over there to Afghanistan and defend a way of life that allows companies like Boeing get rid of 30,000 people while using the tragedy in New York as their shameful excuse.
5. Really Cool War Footage. It's been way too long since we've been able to watch those cruise missiles and smart bombs with their little cameras on them sail in and blow the crap out of a bunch of human beings. This time, let's hope the video is in color and that it's attached with a miniature set of Dolby speaker microphones so we can hear the screams and wails of those Afghanis as our shrapnel guts them into strips of bacon. Oh, and let's pray the video can be loaded into my Sony Playstation!!
6. Better a Quickie War Than the Permanent War. Orwell warned us about this one. Big Brother, in order to control the population, knew that it was necessary for the people to always believe they were in a state of siege, that the enemy was getting closer and closer, and that the war would take a very long time.
That is EXACTLY what George W. Bush said in his speech to Congress, and the reason he said it is because he and his buddies want us all in such a state of fear and panic that we would gladly give up the cherished freedoms that our fathers and those before them fought and died for. Who wouldn't submit to searches, restrictions of movement, and the rounding up of anyone who looks suspicious if it would prevent another September 11?
In order to get these laws passed that will strip us of our rights, they have been telling us that we are in a LONG and PROTRACTED war that has no end in sight. Don't buy it! We are bombing Afghanistan, and THAT is the only war in progress. It should be over anywhere from a few days from now or in about nine years (Soviet-style). Either way, it will end. The good guys will win. And, if George II is anything like George I, then the bad guy will win, too, getting to live and go on doing what he enjoys doing (what were we, like, 40 miles from Baghdad?) while we continue to bomb the innocents (540,000 Iraqi children killed by U.S. in last ten years from bombs and sanctions).
As I'm sure you must agree, there are many upsides to this war. Sure, The Emmys got cancelled again, and, as a nominee this year, I already found out that I wasn't getting one of those little gold people so who cares if I can't walk down the red carpet in my Bob Mackie gown? I don't even wear a gown -- I wear pants, ill-fitting pants at that! Yesiree, I say, BOMBS AWAY! Rockets red glare! We are all WHITE WITH FOAM!
And please, let's look at the bright side for once: The last time a Bush took us to war and got a 90% approval rating, he was toast and a ghost the following year. You can't get better than that.
Nader Blasts Bush's War at S.F. Rally
<http://www.democracyrising.org/press_center.shtml>
by Jonathan Nack, Democracy Rising, October 12, 2001
We must take into consideration why our enemies are enraged
<http://www.post-gazette.com/forum/20011025edlets6.asp>
by Mary W. Sage, RN, Park Place, October 25, 2001
Where Are the Women?
<http://www.TheNation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20011022&s=pollitt>
by Katha Pollitt, The Nation, October 22, 2001
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An Immodest Proposal
In Seachange Bulletin Number 62, we made a modest proposal that steps be taken to form a ³nurses¹ international for peace & justice.² There were several negative responses, the most developed of which we reprint below. No one leaped to form a new organization, so we suggest that the better way for nurses to project their advocacy and compassion may be through their existing organizations. The elements of such a response by organized contingents of the nurses¹ movement may include:
* convey your deepest expressions of sorrow and condolences to the families, friends and communities of those who lost lives on September 11th;
* offer your humble and heartfelt appreciation and admiration to all the people who contributed, and continue to labor, both in the line of duty and spontaneously;
* express your outrage and horror at the unspeakable events of September 11, 2001, and at all acts of terrorism;
disavow all acts of racism, xenophobia and scapegoating flowing forth from the tragic events of September 11th or already embedded in our society;
* demand that all criminals involved in the heinous acts of September 11th be brought to justice before the peoples of the earth;
* insist that our nation¹s public health infrastructure be rebuilt, and access to quality healthcare be created as a right, with the establishment of a universal single payer system in this country;
* call upon public officials in this time of crisis to ease the overcrowding of ERs and diversion of ambulances by mandating immediate implementation of safe RN to patient ratios in all hospitals, thereby rapidly drawing back into hospitals legions of RNs who long to care for patients properly;
* call on all nations to move toward the establishment of a more just world order;
* urge world leaders and their peoples to take advantage of any openings to break the cycle of violence.