Marthaıs Vineyard Hospital Nurses Appeal to Community for Support As Contract Talks Stall Over Issues of Salary, Mandatory Call and Numerous Concessions in Benefits Sought by Management
The registered nurses of Marthaıs Vineyard Hospital, who are currently attempting to negotiate a new contract with hospital management, voted unanimously to take their case to the public for support on a number issues the nurses believe will have an impact on the ability of MVH to maintain a quality nursing staff at the facility. As part of their effort, the nurses plan to leaflet Saturdayıs high school football game between Marthaıs Vineyard High School and Nantucket High School, as well as at other high traffic locations on the island. The nurses will also seek an opportunity to meet with the hospitalıs Board of Trustees to make their case and informational picketing outside the hospital will also be scheduled if progress on the contract is not made.
Nurse and management began negotiating the contract on Oct. 12, 2001. To date, four negotiating sessions have been held, with the next session scheduled for Nov. 20, 2001 before a federal mediator. The contract expired on Sep. 22, 2001 but was extended for another 30 days by agreement of both parties. A request to extend the contract for another month was rejected by MVH CEO Kevin Burchill, who has taken a hard-line stance in the negotiations, which is the key reason the talks have stalled.
The key issues driving the dispute include divergent salary proposals, the hospitalıs refusal to un-freeze the nursesı long-established stepped salary scale, and the hospitalıs demand to force nurses to go home and receive on-call pay in lieu of working their regular shift at full pay. Burchill is also demanding that the nurses make at least 50 concessions in their contract, impacting nearly every benefit and right the nurses have won through more than 25 years of collective bargaining representation by the Massachusetts Nurses Association. Last week, Burchill took the nursesı contract dispute into the public arena, voicing his desire to push the nurses into a strike to win the concessions he seeks.
At the last negotiating session, Burchill waved a retainer check in the faces of the nursesı negotiating team, a check to secure the services of U.S. Nursing Corps. of Denver, CO, high-priced temporary nursesı agency that specializes in providing strike breaking nurses to hospitals during a walk out. The agency charges its clients exorbitant fees, including salaries of $40 an hour for its nurses, plus room and board and all travel expenses.
According to Rick Lambos, an emergency department nurse and chair of the nursesı bargaining unit, the nurses were surprised at the tactic, given that the nurses hadnıt even raised the issue of a potential strike. They were further surprised that Mr. Burchill chose to go the media last week to boast of his resolve to force a strike if necessary.
³Our goal is always to negotiate in good faith towards a settlement. But it appears Mr. Burchill would rather dictate than negotiate. We were appalled by Mr. Burchillıs unprofessional and threatening tactics and we are equally appalled that he chose to drag this issue into the public arena so prematurely,² said Lambos. ³It is important that the public be informed of all the issues in the process, and to understand the impact on nursing at Marthaıs Vineyard Hospital, and on their care, if hospital management continues to refuse to negotiate in good faith towards a fair settlement and insists on pushing the nursesı backs to the wall.²
Lambos points out that the positions taken by management at the hospital will have a dramatic impact on the facilityıs ability to recruit and retain nurses needed to provide safe care to the patients served by the islandıs only acute care hospital.
³Hospital management must have forgotten that there is a national nursing shortage,² Lambos explained. ³Registered nurses looking for jobs in todayıs market have a distinct advantage to pick and choose and they will go where the best working conditions, salary and benefits are provided. The high cost of living, housing problems and the fact that we are on an island have all been major deterrents to attracting and retaining a professional staff. Here at MVH, we currently have long-standing vacancies that have not been permanently filled. No nurse would move to our island and work in this hospital if they were not guaranteed a competitive salary, decent benefits and a guaranteed shift, hours of work and income. Mr. Burchillıs positions in this negotiation are a recipe for the total destruction of the nursing program at our hospital.²
Below is a summary of each of the major issues in dispute.
Mediator may cure nurse dispute
OAK BLUFFS - At Saturday's football game between Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket high schools, the gridiron won't be the only arena for conflict. Nurses at Martha's Vineyard Hospital plan to distribute leaflets to spectators at the Island Cup explaining their side in a suddenly contentious contract negotiation with hospital management. The hospital's 35 registered nurses have been working without a contract since Nov. 3. ...
North Adams nurses fight layoffs
<http://www.thetranscript.com/Stories/0,1002,9049%257E232530,00.html>
by Karen Gardner, North Adams Transcript, November 20, 2001
Members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association say this month's layoff of 27 percent of registered nurses employed at North Adams Regional Hospital (NARH) will result in an increase in complications and mortality rates among its patients. David Schildmeier, Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) spokesman, said his organization, along with local nurses, is involved in an effort to prevent those layoffs from happening, which includes a petition, passing out flyers to inform the public and a letter-writing campaign directed toward area physicians. ...
Seniors rally for nurses
<http://www.gazettenet.com/11202001/politics/8768.htm>
by Mary Carey, Daily Hampshire Gazette, November 20, 2001
HADLEY - As Isaac BenEzra recently observed of seniors citizens, "We're at an age that we're in a circle where we know people going into the hospital." BenEzra, an Amherst senior activist of considerable local fame, is no stranger to hospitals himself. He has witnessed firsthand the declining quality of hospital care that was described by a pair of nurses at a meeting of the Western Massachusetts Senior Action Council in Hadley last week. ...
Infighting hurt merger of Beth Israel, Deaconess
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/329/metro/Infighting_hurt_merger_of_Beth_Israel_Deaconess+.shtml>
by Liz Kowalczyk & Anne Barnard, Boston Globe, 11/25/2001
In late 1998, doctors at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center were locked in a bitter struggle over key positions in the newly merged hospital. The atmosphere grew so divisive that two days before Christmas the hospital's chief executive, Dr. James Reinertsen, called an emergency meeting. ...
Old bill prompts arrest: Deputies cuff ill Quincy man
<http://ledger.southofboston.com/archives>
by Sue Reinert, The Patriot Ledger, November 20, 2001
It seemed like a nightmare to Stephen Cass. At 5:48 a.m. Nov. 6, four sheriffıs deputies handcuffed him in front of his Quincy home, put him in a police cruiser and took him to Quincy District Court. All because Cass owed $390 to a group of Jordan Hospital doctors. ³For a medical bill - I canıt believe it,² said Cass, who acknowledged that he ³probably² received the bills and ignored them. What happened to the 49-year-old sheet metal worker was perfectly legal. A law that dates from 1855 allows a creditor to seek the arrest of a debtor if he or she ignores a court order to pay the bill. ...
Legislative leaders set their cuts for budget vote today
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/325/metro/Legislative_leaders_set_their_cuts_for_budget_vote_today+.shtml>
by Rick Klein, Boston Globe, 11/21/2001
House and Senate leaders were poised last night to release a long-overdue $22.5 billion state budget that calls for scaling back funding for higher education, human services, and local aid in an effort to come to grips with the worsening economic reality. Although the budget would increase spending by 2 percent over last year, many accounts would be level-funded, and some agencies that were counting on increases of 5 percent or more would see only modest expansions. Legislative leaders were forced to drastically rewrite spending plans approved in the spring after revenues abruptly dropped, starting in July. They said they tried to make the reductions as painless as possible, but the ax fell on a range of programs, including $12 million for AIDS outreach and patient care, $12 million to help the mentally ill, and $15 million for adult education, including job training. ...
State budget crunch may cost school nurses
<http://www.projo.com/cgi-bin/story.pl/massachusetts/06598581.htm>
by Mark Reynolds, Providence Journal, 11.23.2001
The asthma had hit in the final hours of the school day. A 10-year-old Swansea girl couldn't breathe normally; her chest felt tight. Leslie Stolts was there to help. First, the school nurse confirmed that young Katelyn's lungs weren't functioning right. Then, she administered a puff of quick-acting inhalant. In less than a minute, the relieved fifth grader was striding back to the classroom for more learning this week. But children might not be able to rely on Stolts for similar care in the future. The nurse's attendance at the Hoyle School depends on Governor Swift's willingness to change her mind, officials say. ...
Nurses may face layoffs
The rancorous budget debate on Beacon Hill is now being felt in local schools. A move to cut $66 million from the provisional state budget offered by the Swift administration could force school districts across Massachusetts to lay off hundreds of nurses in the coming weeks. ...
American Indians hold protest
<http://www.gazettenet.com/11232001/news/8861.htm>
November 23, 2001
PLYMOUTH (AP) - Several hundred people claiming Thanksgiving is nothing to celebrate turned out on a hill overlooking Plymouth Rock Thursday for a protest by an American Indian group. The United American Indians of New England, based in Quincy, held its 32nd annual "National Day of Mourning" to protest what members call the "racist mythology" surrounding the first Thanksgiving celebrated by the Pilgrims in Plymouth in 1621. ...
Pilgrim, Indian worlds collide again
<http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/plym11232001.htm>
by Marie Szaniszlo, Boston Herald, November 23, 2001
While others celebrated the holiday with food and cheer, hundreds of people descended on the birthplace of Thanksgiving yesterday to mark what Native Americans call a ³national day of mourning.² On a hill overlooking Plymouth Rock, the United American Indians of New England denounced the ³racist mythology² surrounding the first Thanksgiving Pilgrims celebrated in 1621. ...
Pilgrims compared to Osama bin Laden
<http://www.ledger.southofboston.com/display/inn_news/news02.txt>
by Tamara Race, The Patriot Ledger, November 23, 2001
PLYMOUTH - While some gathered to celebrate the Pilgrims, Native Americans at a Day of Mourning ceremony compared the Pilgrims to Osama bin Laden and likened anthrax-filled envelopes to smallpox-laden blankets. ...
St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center Strike Countdown
Nurses Strike At Smithtown Hospital
<http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/nynurses1126.story?coll=ny%2Dtop%2Dheadlines>
by Phil Mintz, Newsday.com, November 26, 2001
Registered nurses went on strike this morning at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown. The nurses, who have been negotiating a new contract, struck shortly after 7 a.m., said spokesperson Pat Stickle. Replacement nurses have been hired to take their place. ...
Nurses in Smithtown on strike
<http://www.news12.com/CDA/Articles/View/0,2049,5-5-26707-17,00.html>
News12.com, November 26, 2001
Contract negotiations between 474 registered nurses and Saint Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown broke down Sunday night. Nurses have been working without a contract since May 15. The nurses union and hospital say they are stuck on issues such as staffing, forced overtime and retirement benefits. ...
Santa Maria RNs Ratify Landmark Agreement by 91%
Joining their colleagues at six other Catholic Healthcare West Hospitals, Registered Nurses at Marian Medical Center and Marian Home Care in Santa Maria voted by 91% Monday night to ratify their first ever collective bargaining agreement with the hospital. Over the last few weeks 2500 RNs at seven hospitals from Long Beach to Santa Maria have won first contract agreements that establish groundbreaking advances, including patient care protections that are among the strongest for RNs in the nation and sweeping economic gains. Key points of all seven agreements include precedent setting language giving RNs a greater voice for safe staffing, a ban on mandatory overtime, retiree health benefits, and major economic gains that should help with recruitment and retention of RNs. ...
Itıs Our Turn Now St. Johnıs Nurses Prove Collective Bargaining Works!
<http://www.uhcw.org/10-2001bul.htm>
United Health Care Workers of Greater Saint Louis
Saint Anthonyıs Medical Center management kept saying ³wait and see what happens at St. Johnıs.² Well, we havenıt been waiting. Weıve been moving our UHCW authorization cards for a new election. But now, we can see what happened at St. Johnıs and we like it! ...
A Times Editorial: Solution for nursing shortage
<http://www.sptimes.com/News/112001/news_pf/Opinion/Solution_for_nursing_.shtml>
St. Petersburg Times, November 20, 2001
Florida is already short of nurses, and the problem is likely to only get worse. Currently, there are about 9,000 nursing vacancies in Florida, a shortage expected to grow to 34,000 by 2006. And just as many nurses will be retiring, baby boomers will be seeking more medical care -- much of it in Florida. ...
Nurses on 24-hour strike at Reno's Washoe Med
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/11/21/state1308EST0075.DTL>
Associated Press, November 21, 2001
RENO, Nev. -- More than 100 striking nurses picketed Washoe Medical Center Wednesday in protest of staffing shortages they say sometimes jeopardize patient health at northern Nevada's largest hospital. Nurses staging the 24-hour strike carried signs accusing the hospital of unfair labor practices. It's the second time they have walked out since negotiations in the ongoing labor dispute broke off in April. Hospital officials hired 114 replacement workers to fill in for the striking nurses, who work in four of the hospital's 21 units -- cardiac intensive care, inpatient oncology, labor and delivery and nephrology. They staged a similar walkout in June. Although the strike will last just a day, the nurses will be locked out until Monday. Judy Davis, a spokeswoman for Washoe Medical Center, said that is because the hospital had to hire the replacements for a minimum of five days. ...
Upcoming Elections at Community Hospital of Springfield
<http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-21-2001/0001620388&EDATE=>
Ohio Nurses Association, November 21, 2001
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The National Labor Relations Board, has directed an election for registered nurses at Community Hospital in Springfield to decide on collective bargaining representation by the Ohio Nurses Association. This announcement is a result of an agreement reached November 16, 2001, between Community Hospital and the Ohio Nurses Association as to which members of the registered nurse staff will be included in election and the specifics of the election. The registered nurses will be voting on Thursday, December 20, 2001.
Copyright İ 1996-2001 PR Newswire Association Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Editorial: Open health care debate
<http://www.captimes.com/opinion/editorial/7943.php>
Madison Capital Times, November 23, 2001
Ten years ago this fall, former Kennedy administration aide Harris Wofford won a special election for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania on a promise to fight for health care for all. Wofford's win shook the political process and created a movement toward health care reform that would culminate in the unsuccessful attempt by former President Bill Clinton to implement a national health care program.
The Clinton plan failed because it deviated from the simple message that won Wofford that election. By attempting to "reform" a for-profit health care system by developing a complex program of protections for insurance companies and existing health care providers, the program advanced by Bill and Hillary Clinton created a public-private mish-mash that made no sense to anyone.
When it went down to failure, the prospect for real reform that arose with Wofford's election was lost. Even as the number of Americans lacking health care coverage rose to 44 million, the crisis was met only with tinkering that amounted to the policy equivalent of "take two aspirin and call me in the morning."
Now, however, as an economic slowdown refocuses attention on an unaddressed crisis, the prospect for real health care reform has again arisen. And it is coming the right way - not in the form of a bureaucratic public-private partnership scheme designed to preserve structures, but a grass-roots proposal for a simple, efficient and humane government-funded single-payer health care plan.
As in Canada, where that country's universal health care program developed from the provincial level and then went national, this important stride toward honest health care reform in America is starting at the state level. In Illinois, a movement is growing to put a binding referendum on the statewide ballot that would order legislators to create a universal health care program. Several other states, including Massachusetts and Vermont, are in various stages of exploring single-payer approaches.
But the big progress is coming in Maine. Last year, legislators there created a commission to look into the pros and cons of a government-funded program. As the commission prepares to make its report, the state is beginning to engage in a broad debate on the issue. And voters are once again weighing in on the side of health care for all.
Despite a massive campaign by health care industry corporations to defeat a referendum endorsing Maine's single-payer reform, Portland voters backed the proposal. Says Tammy Greaton, co-director of the Maine People's Alliance: "(The victory) sends a loud sound of support that we're sick and tired of health care that does not provide quality, that does not provide access and is unaffordable."
That should come as no surprise. Americans are ready for real reform. With conservatives in charge of the White House and the U.S. House of Representatives, it is unlikely that real health care reform will come from Washington. But it can get started at the state level, most likely in Maine. And all Americans who want to address the crisis that is America's current health care system should be cheering on the Maine People's Alliance and other activists in that state.
A single-payer system, if implemented in Maine, will be a success. And its success will spread the movement for real reform - perhaps even to Wisconsin.
Copyright 2001 The Capital Times
BCNU launches a campaign to encourage members and the public to
"Call Colin" when patient safety and quality patient care are at risk
<http://www.bcnu.org/bulletins_2001/bulL_48_2001.htm>
British Columbia Nurses' Union, November 16, 2001
On Thursday November 15, in response to the closing of the Emergency Department at St. Paulıs Hospital Wednesday evening, Colin Hansen Minister of Health Services declared publicly that he should have been personally consulted on the closure before it was made. Throughout the media yesterday and today he continued to slam both the doctors and nurses at St. Paulıs for contacting the media first about the closure and suggested it was an attempt to put pressure on the government for more money. The decision to close the Emergency Room, for the first time in St. Paulıs history, was taken after management and staff exhausted every possible option that would ensure that patient safety would not be compromised. In response to the Ministerıs request for consultation, BCNU is asking members and the public to "Call Colin" every time they are faced with a problem that puts patient care in jeopardy. ...
Nurses face mass layoffs
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=CDCAC6C9-C05D-4779-BF00-B9564F102FA7>
by Barbara McLintock & Don Harrison, Victoria Times Colonist, November 22, 2001
VANCOUVER -- Despite a devastating nursing shortage, BC's health authorities are likely to be faced with the prospect of laying off hundreds of nurses to meet provincial government spending targets. Finance Minister Gary Collins confirmed Thursday that the regional authorities will be expected to cover the costs of 2002-03 wage increases for nurses and paramedicals out of their existing budgets next year. Those budgets will be frozen at this year's levels. ...
CHR waits could be killing patients
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=1A167ADD-3837-48EB-BC18-E871B8697D6B>
CH News, November 22, 2001
Everyone in the health care system agrees that overcrowding in hospital emergency rooms is compromising patient care and some even say it is leading to premature deaths. It is not unusual for the Royal Jubilee emergency room to be so busy that patients have to be turned away. Many times the emergency is full because other parts of the hospital have no beds to take patients. ...
Nurses condemn Liberalıs mismanagement and yet another broken
promise as they refuse to fund the settlement they imposed
Nurses fear drastic cuts to patient services and sabotage of nursing strategies if the Liberal government upholds its shortsighted refusal to fund health authorities for the full amount of the nursesı settlement they imposed. "This is yet another broken promise by the Liberals," said BCNU President Debra McPherson. "This government is playing with patientıs lives and with nurseıs lives." ...
UN labour complaint filed against BC
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=20C22F99-B841-40EA-9E35-5760CB3342BB>
Canadian Press, November 23, 2001
The BC Teachers Federation, the Nurses Union and the Canadian Union of Public Employees have launched a complaint against the provincial government with a United Nations labour agency. The complaint to the International Labour Organization claims that provincial government laws imposing a nurses' contract and making education an essential service violate international labour standards. ...
Ontario nurses criticize tax cuts while preparing for contract mediation
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=3648FCD2-7264-4B81-8AA5-D063F43A292E>
Canadian Press, November 22, 2001
TORONTO - The province's nurses criticized the government's recent tax cuts Wednesday, insisting the money could be better spent on health care. "The government has said they're going to commit to tax cuts," said Ontario Nurses' Association president Barb Wahl. "What we're saying is, don't do tax cuts, commit to patient care. A few dollars in your pocket won't go very far." Ontario Premier Mike Harris is planning $2.2 billion in corporate tax cuts, to take effect over the next three years. ...
SUN demands beyond reach
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=56030BBC-E1DD-4553-BB49-41933AC6ECCF>
Saskatoon StarPhoenix, November 22, 2001
On the surface, Saskatchewan nurses' demand for parity with their Alberta counterparts makes sense. There is a global shortage of nurses. So Alberta, which had the wherewithal to pay premium prices to keep its nurses at home (and attract workers from other parts of the world) did what it had to do. In February, it hiked the average wage for nurses by more than 20 per cent. ...
Salt in the wounds
A tentative doctorsı deal is salt in the wounds of Nova Scotia health-care workers who had to battle for more modest gains, say the unions representing nurses, lab technologists and others. The agreement keeps Bluenoser doctors the third-highest paid in Canada. ...
Muir's doctor doublespeak
What a difference a day makes. Or should that be what a difference a doctor makes? Rewind to last spring when the Hamm government attempted to body-slam the provinceıs 10,000 nurses and other mostly female health care workers into submission with its draconian Bill 68. The legislation would have taken away health-care workers right to strike and allowed the government to impose any settlement it pleased. At the time, we heard a lot of solemn tsk-tsking from government ministers about fiscal responsibility, living within our limited means, tough choices and blah blah blah. ...
16 doctors resigning over pay cut
<http://nb.cbc.ca/editorServlets/View?filename=docss011123>
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Nov 23 2001
Saint John, New Brunswick - A spokesperson for the Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation in Saint John hopes a dispute involving 16 emergency room doctors can be settled through negotiations. Patricia Crowdis says the doctors plan to quit their jobs in February. "The doctors have submitted letters of resignation," she says. "That is a requirement that they do so many weeks in advance and they've fulfilled that requirement." The doctors aren't happy their pay rate has been clipped by $13 an hour. ...
Blood clinics on strike alert
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=0F5168B0-CD0D-4C86-9ECC-B1B0C1AC7F9C>
by Michelle LaLond, Montreal Gazette, November 25, 2001
Blood donors could face longer line-ups at Héma-Québec donation clinics if negotiators for the nurses' union decide to exercise a strike mandate supported overwhelmingly by member nurses in a vote held yesterday. The negotiating committee has a clear mandate to call a general strike after 64 of Héma-Québec's 77 nurses voted for the strike mandate. The decision was made after 28 months of trying to get Héma-Québec to negotiate a new contract. ...
Do we dare to cross the Rubicon?
<http://www.japan-press.co.jp/2261/do.html>
Akahata editorial, November 15, 2001
The Koizumi Cabinet is pushing ahead with plans to send Self-Defense Force units abroad using the United Nations as a cover. It is the plan to adversely revise the International Peace Cooperation Law on the U.N. peace-keeping operations, aimed at lifting the "freeze" in Japan's participation in U.N. peace-keeping forces, and to ease restrictions on the use of arms. ...
KHYBER PASS: for Pakistan, high anxiety at checkpoints
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/325/nation/for_Pakistan_high_anxiety_at_checkpoints+.shtml>
by Anne Barnard, Boston Globe, 11/21/2001
TORKHAM, Pakistan - These days, Ghulan Farooq is a nervous man. From a small shack perched between steep gray peaks a third of the way through the Khyber Pass, he presides over the most important checkpoint on the 1,340-mile Afghan-Pakistani border. ...
SPIN CAMPAIGN: US-led coalition gets around to press
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/325/nation/US_led_coalition_gets_around_to_press+.shtml>
by Yvonne Abraham & Anne Barnard, Boston Globe, 11/21/2001
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The US-led coalition's vaunted public relations operation finally lurched into life here yesterday, 44 days after the bombing of Afghanistan began. It was a long time coming. Too long, even the spinners agreed. ...
US, Pakistan in rift over fighters' fate
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/327/nation/US_Pakistan_in_rift_over_fighters_fate+.shtml>
by Anne Barnard, Boston Globe, 11/23/2001
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Tensions heightened yesterday between the United States and Pakistan as the countries disagreed over the fate of Pakistani pro-Taliban fighters who are trapped in the embattled Afghan city of Kunduz. ...
War compounds economic woes for Pakistanis
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/327/nation/War_compounds_economic_woes_for_Pakistanis+.shtml>
by Yvonne Abraham, Boston Globe, 11/23/2001
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - It was noon, and the thin strip of dirt near the Peshawar More bazaar should have been empty hours ago. The men who have gathered here early every morning for years should have been given the nod already, hired for the day by employers needing a couple of good shoulders, or a green thumb, or a deft touch with a grinder. ...
Pashtuns key to Afghan future
MIANKALI, Pakistan - In this village surrounded by sugar cane and turnip fields, the eight women of the Malik family spend their days together inside their compound, four well-appointed houses connected by metal doors. They watch MTV and soap operas, help one another with chores, and believe fervently in Pashtunwali, a tribal code of honor that allows a man to kill any relative who sullies the family name. ...
Women taste freedom now that Taliban are gone
<http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/846793.html>
by Amy Waldman, New York Times, Nov 25 2001
HERAT, AFGHANISTAN -- In the walled garden of her house, Soheila Helal waged a quiet rebellion against the Taliban. On a patio softened by rugs and book-ended by two small blackboards, she ran a school for 120 students, mostly girls. It was a transgression on two counts: As a woman, Helal was not supposed to work, and her female students were not supposed to learn. ...
7,200 people rally in Osaka against adverse revision of medical system
<http://www.japan-press.co.jp/2261/7200.html>
Japan Press Service
About 7,200 medical workers, company employers, and smaller business owners gathered at an Osaka rally on November 17 against the Koizumi Cabinet's plan to adversely revise the medical system. The rally was organized by general practitioners' organizations of Osaka, Kyoto, and four other prefectures in the Kinki region. 105 medical associations which are under the strong influence of the Liberal Democratic Party, and more than 100 senior citizens' groups in the region expressed support for the rally, and presidents of Osaka and Hyogo Prefectural Medical Associations gave solidarity messages. ...
It's not enough to bring Soweto to Rosedale
<http://www.globeandmail.ca/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?tf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.html&cf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/config&encoded_keywords=Soweto&option=&start_row=3¤t_row=3&start_row_offset1=&num_rows=1&search_results_start=1>
by Naomi Klein, Toronto Globe & Mail, November 21, 2001
On Saturday night, I found myself at a party honouring Nelson Mandela and raising money for his children's fund. It was a lovely affair and only a very rude person would have pointed out that the party was packed with many of the banking and mining executives who refused to pull their investments out of apartheid-run South Africa for decades. Similarly, only someone with no sense of timing would have mentioned that, as the Liberals were making Mr. Mandela an honorary Canadian citizen, they were also trying to ram through an anti-terrorism bill that would have sabotaged the anti-apartheid movement on several fronts had it been in place at the time. ...
Joint call for Aids drugs in public health
<http://www.dispatch.co.za/2001/11/20/southafrica/HIVAIDS.HTM>
South Africa Press Association, November 20, 2001
CAPE TOWN -- A range of organisations, including churches, unions and health groups, have made a joint call for anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment for HIV-Aids to be implemented urgently in the public health care sector. In a statement yesterday, they said ARV treatment could restore hope to both health professionals and patients, and could help in regaining control of the epidemic. ...
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