Ralph Klein - $6 Billion Man - hijacks democracy and Medicare
CALGARY: Ralph Klein is attempting to "highjack democracy," by orchestrating a campaign to end Medicare as we know it, according to Mel Teghtmeyer, chair of the Calgary Council of Canadians. Not only is the Romanow Report still pending, but Albertans had no opportunity to respond to the recommendations that Klein presented last week to the Premiers' Conference on healthcare. The "Mazankowski Report" was released scant days before the recommendations, and the recommendations came only the day before Klein's pitch to the premiers. ... Teghtmeyer points out significant omissions in the report's biographies of Advisory Council members. Although recommending massive privatization of health care in Alberta, it fails to mention that two of its main contributors - including Don Mazankowski himself - have a direct interest in health care privatization. ...
"Question anything that doesn't seem right because it probably isn't."
THE AMERICAS: Outcry over assassination of Sao Paulo politician
Raymond Colitt, Financial Times, January 21, 2002
The assassination of a leading opposition politician in Sao Paulo over the weekend has triggered a public outcry over growing violence that could have implications for the government ahead of general elections this year.
Celso Daniel, campaign manager of the leftist Workers' party (PT), whose likely presidential candidate, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, leads in opinion polls, was found murdered yesterday after being kidnapped from his armoured car late on Friday.
The incident has caused widespread consternation and outrage that could hit popularity ratings of the state and federal governments, which have been accused of being too soft on crime. Growing violence is already one of the top campaign issues, according to recent opinion polls.
Sao Paulo, one of the largest cities in the world with its population of nearly 18m, has seen kidnappings increased fivefold last year to nearly one per day, according to official statistics.
Sao Paulo state last year had an estimated 17,000 homicides, most in in the capital city. The per capita murder rate of 57.45 per 100,000 inhabitants is now higher than that of Bogota, Colombia, with 34.8 per 100,000.
"We are in a state of war," Geraldo Alckmin, Sao Paulo state governor, said yesterday.
The assassination of Mr Daniel, who was also mayor of Santo Andre, one of the satellite cities of greater Sao Paulo, follows the murder last September of another PT mayor in the same state.
The PT says both assassinations may have been politically motivated. More than 30 PT politicians are said to have received death threats last year. According to the daily Folha de Sao Paulo, an organisation called the Brazilian Revolutionary Action Front is allegedly threatening PT politicians who are "seeking ties to centre-right parties".
PT leaders harshly criticised the federal and Sao Paulo state governments, which are both led by President Fernando Henrique's Social Democratic party (PSDB), of inadequate policies to combat crime and negligence in investigating threats against them.
Marta Suplicy, PT mayor of Sao Paulo, said that residents had lost their patience. "The city has reached the limit of tolerance in living with this wave of violence and kidnapping," she told Globo television.
The PT yesterday launched a campaign "for peace and against crime", and promised a series of protests as well as legislative proposals in the coming weeks.
Copyright: The Financial Times Limited
Nurses, health-care advocates deliver message to premiers in Vancouver
<http://www.canada.com/vancouver/story.asp?id={D67AB135-D03C-4DAB-A094-34FED0458DC9}>
Greg Joyce, Canadian Press, January 25, 2002
VANCOUVER (CP) - Tight security inside and outside the Pan Pacific Hotel kept Canadian premiers isolated in meetings Thursday, but nurses and others groups managed to get their message across in defence of Canada's cherished medicare system. While dozens of nurses waved placards outside and listened to speeches that condemned perceived reforms into medicare as espoused by some premiers, the Alberta-based Friends of Medicare travelled to the conference to continue its attacks on Alberta Premier Ralph Klein. Klein announced this week that his province would act on many of the recommendations to reform health care contained in the so-called Mazankowski report. Those reforms include higher premiums, an increased role for private provision of services and de-listing of some procedures. ...
Teachers, health care workers and social services workers targeted
<http://vancouver.cbc.ca/template/servlet/View?filename=bc_brucetwo020125>
British Columbia Online News, January 25, 2002
Victoria - The BC government has introduced legislation to force an end to the teachers' contract dispute. It's also brought in a new law that will tear up union contracts in health care and social services. The legislation to end the teachers' contract dispute imposes a new contract with a pay raise of 7.5 per cent over three years. That's far less than what the BC Teachers Federation had been demanding. The BCTF's latest proposal was for 18 per cent over three years. Labour Minister Graham Bruce has also introduced a second bill that removes the limits on class sizes negotiated by the previous NDP government with the BCTF. ...
To All CUPE BC Locals & Staff
<http://www.cupe.bc.ca/2002jan25.1.html>
Canadian Union of Public Employees, January 25, 2002
Gordon Campbell and his Liberals today launched an unprecedented attack on working people in British Columbia. He is using his huge legislative majority to smash collective agreements and to open the door to contracting our work out to his business pals. Make no mistake: this is an attack on us both as trade unionists and as citizens. It is an attack on health, social services and education in our communities. It is an attack on democracy in British Columbia. ...
Bill 29: Another outrageous Liberal attack on nursesı and other health care workersı rights
The first glance analysis of Bill 29, misnamed the Health and Social Services Delivery Improvement Act, spells bad news for the rights of nurses. While there is no mention of nursesı wages in the Bill, Health Services Minister Colin Hansen said that nursesı hard fought wage increases were only safe if savings could be achieved in sufficient amounts through the measures outlined in the Bill. Given the governmentıs present track record, BCNU fears more legislation on the issue of nurses wages when the Legislature is next in session. Not only does Bill 29 steal away collective agreement rights bargained in the past, it ensures that no bargaining or agreements on a local level regarding the content of the Bill can occur until December 31st, 2005. ...
Bill 29: Government seizes power to slash services to patients
<http://www.bcnu.org/News_Releases/NR_013.htm>
British Columbia Nurses Union, January 25, 2002
"I donıt believe in tearing up agreements" - Gordon Campbell, HEU Guardian, Nov. 2000
"I donıt think there is any appetite in British Columbia to do any kind of privatizing of health care. And, indeed I donıt believe we need to do that ... ² - Gordon Campbell on the Bill Good Show, CKNW-Radio, March 3, 2000
Breaking his word that he would respect contracts, Gordon Campbell gives health employers the power to downsize and close facilities across the province without consulting communities or health care providers. Legislation tearing up collective agreements in health care gives the Gordon Campbell government sweeping powers to downsize and destroy patient services without any input from nurses or other health care providers. ...
Labour declares war on BC contract-breaking laws, backbencher opposes bills
<http://ca.news.yahoo.com/020127/6/hurr.html>
Dirk Meissner, Canadian Press, January 27, 2002
VICTORIA (CP) - Union leaders vowed Saturday to launch a legal and public war on contract-breaking laws introduced by the BC Liberal government. BC's labour movement, known for its militancy, and unions across Canada won't tolerate laws that allow governments to shred contracts, cut thousands of jobs and close hospitals, a health union spokesman said. The contract-breaking law was part of a legislative package introduced Friday to impose a contract on BC teachers. Politicians debated labour legislation during a rare weekend session. The legislation is virtually guaranteed to pass because the Liberals have a huge majority in the legislature, but at least one government backbencher was expressing doubts. ...
Legislation that rewrites public sector contracts in BC draws unionsı wrath
<http://ca.news.yahoo.com/020129/6/hz4g.html>
Greg Joyce, Canadian Press, January 28, 2002
VANCOUVER (CP) - In Ontario, Premier Mike Harris cut a swath through the public sector and became known as Mike the Knife and Chainsaw Mike for his so-called Common Sense Revolution. In Alberta, Premier Ralph Klein got a far more pleasant moniker: King Ralph for his cuts that became known as the Alberta Advantage. The Liberal government in British Columbia calls its plan for the province the New Era. But unions affected by massive layoffs and sweeping legislation passed on the weekend may be searching for a new label for Premier Gordon Campbell and his government's agenda. "Remember Gordon Campbell saying in the last election that he would not tear up contracts?" Barry O'Neill, president of the BC section of CUPE bellowed at a teachers' rally Monday. "So Gordon Campbell is more than a liar, Gordon Campbell is a thief. He is a jack-booted thug who will use the power of government to attack people who deliver our public services." ...
Thousands of BC workers attend rallies to protest labour bill
<http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?category=Canada&story=/news/2002/01/29/bc_walkout020129>
CBC News Online, January 29, 2002
VANCOUVER - Community workers in British Columbia walked off the job Tuesday in a one-day protest against government cutbacks and new provincial labour legislation. Thousands of BC Government and Service Employees Union and CUPE members attended rallies around the province. The BC employees work in group homes for the physically and mentally challenged or with abused women. Day care workers decided not to take part in Tuesday's province-wide walkouts. The BC workers say the province has pushed them too far by reneging on their collective agreements. ...
Campbell attacks union bosses for orchestrating challenge to BC government
<http://www.canoe.ca/NationalTicker/CANOE-wire.Contracts-Protest.html>
CBC News Online, January 29, 2002
VICTORIA (CP) -- BC Premier Gordon Campbell attacked union leaders Tuesday for orchestrating what appear to be escalating protests across British Columbia. British Columbians have the right to disagree with government decisions, but workers should expect to pay a price -- a day's wages -- for walking off the job, he said. Public-sector walkouts continued for the second straight day Tuesday as community-service workers held a one-day strike to protest legislation reopening their collective agreement. Angry teachers walked out for the day Monday. ...
At least one BC hospital will close
VANCOUVER - The Hospital Employees Union is saying "I told you so" about a government warning that some BC hospitals may close. Health Services Minister Colin Hansen says with shorter hospital stays and improved medical care, not every hospital is needed. He says he expects at least one hospital to close after a review of health services across the province. Chris Allnutt of the HEU says the union pointed out a year ago the Liberals have a "hit list" of rural hospitals that are going to be shut down. He says the legislation the Liberals passed last weekend is designed to close hospitals and privatize health care. ...
New England Free Burma Coalition
<http://www.trilliuminvest.com/pages/activism/activism_issuedetail.asp?IssueID=11>
February 1, 2002
We have a strong opportunity in Massachusetts to strike a blow against global trade agreement that threaten our local democracy. That opportunity is working to enact the Globalization Impact Bill (H.2119).
All we need to enact this law is your immediate help in lobbying your Mass. state representative and Mass. state senator. Act now so we can ensure this bill's passage in the next few months!
In 1997, the European Commission and the Japan challenged the Massachusetts Burma Law at the World Trade Organization (WTO). This was the first - and only - example of a U.S. state law being challenged at the WTO.
This WTO challenge helped the U.S. corporate-sponsored National Foreign Trade Council make its case in U.S. federal court that the Mass Burma Law was an unconstitutional intrusion by Massachusetts into U.S. foreign policy. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Mass Burma Law as unconstitutional.
Other Massachusetts laws are at risk. Under trade agreements, such as the WTO and NAFTA, foreign governments and corporations can challenge as "barriers to trade" bans on toxic substances, preferences for small businesses, or state-funded local economic development.
We have the opportunity to enact a bill in Massachusetts that give Massachusetts a voice in how the WTO and other global trade agreements affect our state laws. Sponsored by Rep. Byron Rushing, the Globalization Impact Bill (H. 2119) would establish a state commission to report on the impact of trade agreements on Massachusetts laws and advise the Commonwealth on when to oppose such trade provisions.
Please take action to support to this important bill.
Ratios law pays for itself
<http://www.calnurse.org/cna/12202/ratiopayexodus.html>
California Nurses Association
Strong ratios will produce cost savings for hospitals in a number of ways, including reduced expenditures on nursing registry, travelers, and overtime costs, reduced RN turnover, and improved patient outcomes. ...
The Cure for the Nursing Shortage -
The Four 'Rs': Ratios, Retention, Recruitment, Retraining
<http://www.calnurse.org/cna/12202/4rs12802.html>
California Nurses Association
Today's hospital nursing shortage is the direct result of a decade of failed policies of market-driven medical care, characterized by reckless restructuring, downsizing, displacement of RNs by unlicensed staff, and for many RNs a loss of trust in their employers. Numerous studies, including a report by the General Accounting Office to Congress last summer, document that dissatisfaction over unsafe staffing and other poor conditions is the main cause of the shortage. ...
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Prognosis for Nurses Bodes Ill
<http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-000007217jan29.story>
Los Angeles Times, January 29, 2002
Re "Davis Reveals Plan to Limit Hospital Nurses to 5 Patients," Jan. 23: I've been an ER nurse for nearly 20 years. I've cared for patients crammed into plastic chairs in hallways, stacked against the walls on gurneys and literally out of the door in the emergency entrance because there are not enough beds to accommodate them inside. I've been forced to treat multiple patients on ventilators, others with head injuries, heart attacks and those in intractable pain simultaneously because the hospital claims it can't hire enough nurses. ... - Richard C. Mallyon, Lancaster
Congratulations to Gov. Gray Davis and the California Nurses Assn. for creating nurse staffing ratios that have no hope of being successful. They will not succeed because there simply aren't enough nurses or dollars to meet the current demand, let alone what is anticipated for the future. ... - Carol O'Dea RN, Manhattan Beach
This staffing minimum is long overdue. Managers at local hospitals claim they have many unfilled positions, which is true. What the managers do not tell the public is that they do not even bother to post the unfilled positions or advertise them to the public. ... - Annette Gregson, Rossmoor, Calif.
Nurses & politics
<http://www.examiner.com/warren_hinckle/default.jsp?story=n.hinckle.0129w>
Warren Hinckle, San Francisco Examiner, January 29, 2002
ANYONE WHO HAS pushed the little button by the hospital bed and waited an ice age for the nurse to arrive had better get used to more waiting -- despite what Gov. Gray Davis said the other day. Amid jet streams of political spin, Davis last week announced what his staff packaged as a revolutionary, or at least groundbreaking, rules governing the nurses-to-patients ratio in California hospitals, which was put at least one nurse to every six patients. ...
GOV. GRAY DAVIS GETS HIGH MARKS FOR SETTING NEW RATIOS FOR NURSES TO PATIENTS, BUT IS IT ENOUGH TO IMPROVE HEALTH CARE? Nurse ratios are still too high
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/01/30/ED77035.DTL>
Lyssa Friedman, San Francisco Chronicle, January 30, 2002
GOV. GRAY DAVIS has issued rules establishing minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals, making California the first state to take such action. But the state Department of Health Services rule requiring no more than six patients per nurse will not take effect until July 2003. The California Nurses Association pressed for mandates requiring one nurse for every three patients. Meanwhile, the California Healthcare Association, which represents hospitals, proposed a 1-to-10 ratio. As a former bedside nurse, I've worked in understaffed medical-surgical units. But that didn't prepare me to be a patient in one. ...
GOV. GRAY DAVIS GETS HIGH MARKS FOR SETTING NEW RATIOS FOR NURSES TO PATIENTS, BUT IS IT ENOUGH TO IMPROVE HEALTH CARE? Ratios are a good start, but don't celebrate yet
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/01/30/ED18588.DTL>
Joanne Spetz, San Francisco Chronicle, January 30, 2002
GOV. GRAY DAVIS recently announced new minimum nurse-to-patient ratios for California hospitals at a press conference in Los Angeles. Along with Diana Bonta, the director of the state Department of Health Services, and representatives of the California Nurses Association, the governor touted the new ratios as a way to improve patient care. But many questions remain about the effect of new ratios on the quality -- and the bottom line -- of health care in the state. First, how will these ratios affect patients? This is the most crucial question for consumers, yet we won't have an answer for years. The state is supposed to evaluate the ratios five years after they have been implemented, which means we won't learn the effect of the governor's proposal until 2008 if they are implemented as planned in 2003. Numerous researchers throughout the nation have tried to determine the best nurse-to-patient ratio, to no avail. Even a large study of minimum nurse-to- patient ratios completed last year by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco with support from the California HealthCare Foundation could not determine what the nurse-to-patient ratios should be. ...
Nurse staff challenge
<http://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/stories/xxwedsec_20020130.htm>
Contra Costa Times, January 30, 2002
GOV. GRAY DAVIS announced a long-awaited proposal to mandate nursing staff levels at all California hospitals next year. The ambitious new regulations would require a ratio of one nurse for every five patients in medical-surgical wards. The ratio would be one nurse for four patients in pediatrics and emergency departments, and one nurse for every two patients in intensive care. These ratios are considerably more stringent than hospitals sought, but somewhat weaker than proposed by the California Nurses Association. Clearly, the new staffing regulations, which would be the only ones in the nation, would improve the quality of patient care in California hospitals. ...
COMMENTARY: New Nurse-Patient Ratios Will Ensure Better Care
<http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-000007738jan31.story>
ROSE ANN DeMORO, California Nurses Association, January 31, 2002
Release of California's proposed new nurse-to-patient ratios is welcome news for those who have experienced long waits for care in understaffed hospitals and emergency rooms. The new ER ratios will have an especially dramatic impact at a time when emergency rooms are closing and patients are enduring long waits for access to medical services while unstaffed beds sit empty. California's regulations are the first in the nation, but they won't be the last as policymakers grapple with a seemingly intractable shortage of nurses. The problem is the direct result of 10 years of reckless, market-driven practices by a hospital industry pressured by health maintenance organizations, pharmaceutical companies and other industry giants in pursuit of profits at the expense of patient care. ...
News in brief from California's North Coast
<http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/1556436p-1632747c.html>
The Associated Press, Jan. 31, 2002
EUREKA, Calif. (AP) - Registered nurses at St. Joseph Health System-Humboldt County have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board, requesting a union election. The nurses, who filed the request Wednesday, first announced their intention to seek representation with the California Nurses Association in November. "We had better than 70 percent of the St. Joseph Health System nurses sign cards asking CNA to represent them," said George Batiste, a registered nurse and organizing spokesman. ...
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Nursing Ratios
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/02/01/ED96140.DTL>
Paul Walker, San Francisco, San Francisco Chronicle, February 1, 2002
Editor -- Gov. Gray Davis is going to have one big hangover when his ill-conceived law establishing nurse-to-patient ratios backfires. If we ignore the California Nursing (sic) Association's lobbying with the same enthusiasm as Enron officials, and the fact that Davis is no more qualified to determine nursing requirements than to perform brain surgery, we are still left with the fact that there is a shortage of nurses. ...
10,000 Fired in attempt to destroy Salvadoran social movement!
Over the past two weeks, the Salvadoran Right-wing government fired at least 10,000 public sector workers, many of whom had over 20 years of service and the majority of whom were rank-and-file union members. It is projected that thousands more will be fired in the upcoming weeks. The total number of workers fired may reach over 15,000 which would be proportionally equal to 2.5 million workers here in the United States. The firings began the day after the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly passed legislation reform that includes a "Voluntary Retirement Law." In the past a similar law was used to fire telecommunication workers, gut the Telcom union and privatize the phone services. The government is using the same union-busting tactic now throughout the public sector to fire people under the guise of "voluntary retirement." The pro-big business, Right-wing government (represented by the ARENA party) wants to crush the Salvadoran labor movement because it is the backbone of resistance to neoliberalism. ...
Physicians strike for 1 day over fees
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0201240296jan24.story>
Chicago Tribune, January 24, 2002
PARIS, FRANCE -- A one-day physicians strike Wednesday left emergency rooms around the country struggling to cope with an influx of patients, many suffering from winter colds. Union officials said 80 percent of the doctors across France had closed their doors. ...
UE General Executive Board Statement on the Current Crises
<http://www.ranknfile-ue.org/uen_0102_gebstatement.html>
United Electrical Workers, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, January 19, 2002
The terror attacks of September 11, combined with the apparently domestic anthrax nightmare, have together extracted a massive toll on our nation. As we predicted shortly after September 11, working people have borne the brunt of the damage. In addition to the thousands of terror casualties, many more thousands of rescue and debris-clearing workers are now apparently sickened from toxic fallout at the World Trade Center complex clean-up site. Thousands of postal workers and Congressional staff have been exposed to the deadly anthrax germ, and have been subjected to experimental vaccines and medical treatments. Our economy proceeds to sink even faster into recession, with mass layoffs and plant closings driving unemployment to an eight-year high. Enron, the seventh largest US corporation, vanished overnight in a flash of corruption. Workers everywhere were left to wonder if their jobs, or their investment savings, were safe from such a massive swindle.
In the face of these multiple crises, the same corporate elites who finance and control President George W. Bush, and who bankroll a growing majority of Congress, have exploited this tragic time for their own ends, and for their own further enrichment.
In times like these, people expect our elected officials to show leadership in confronting and tackling the serious problems that confront working people. But sadly, President Bush and a compliant Congress have done nothing to bring relief to Americaıs working families. In place of a real, thorough investigation of the causes of the September terror attacks, Bush and Congress have instead passed the draconian "Patriot" scheme to massively scale back the Constitutional rights of immigrants and citizens alike. US military might has crushed the outlaw regime in Afghanistan, but the US foreign policy that protects corporate power at the expense of workers will lead to neither a safe nor peaceful world. Meanwhile, US forces are now being detailed to more than half a dozen countries in the endless, ill-defined and incredibly expensive Bush "war on terrorism." Rather than provide assistance to the cash-strapped states as they grapple with the post-September 11 fallout, Bush used this moment to revive funding for the "star wars" corporate welfare boondoggle.
Instead of crafting a sensible economic stimulus bill of relief for working families and the unemployed, Congress surrendered to big business and passed one corporate giveaway bill after another. The House of Representatives refused to address the pressing need for massive job creation, and instead bowed to corporate pressure by passing the job-killing "fast track" scheme. Anthrax terrorism and fears of even greater germ warfare attacks, combined with growing numbers of uninsured, urgently make the case for a national health care system. But no action was taken, and tragically, none is expected. Failing to promptly and fully investigate the gigantic Enron fraud, the Bush Administration sits idle while critical documents are destroyed.
Working people need, deserve, and demand better leadership than this. Now is the time for Congress to address the pressing needs of the people, not to cater to corporate interests. Now is the time for Congress to fully investigate the causes of the terror attacks; repeal the unconstitutional curtailment of our civil liberties; convene an international peace and anti-terrorism conference in place of a massive military build-up; and pass an emergency economic stimulus bill including extension of unemployment benefits and health care coverage for the unemployed, massive job creation through public infrastructure improvements, and direct aid to the states.
And last, but not least, we call on Congress to renew the push for a real, national health care program as the best and most fitting tribute to the victims of the terror attacks. There could be no better or lasting legacy to the innocent victims than this.
Copyright İ 2002 UE. All Rights Reserved
Both Sides Now: US And Afghan Families Meet
<http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=5049>
Laura Flanders, TomPaine.com, January 24, 2002
What does it take to get Afghan civilian casualties into the US press? Well, Americans, it seems. Four Americans who lost family members in the September 11 attacks traveled to Afghanistan this week to meet with Afghans bereaved in the American bombing campaign. Their visit was organized by the San Francisco based organization Global Exchange. The Global Exchange journey has produced some sadly singular reporting. After months of bombing -- which continues to this day -- the stories on the US delegation actually brought US readers and TV viewers some passionate portraits of those whom US bombs have killed. ...
Signs of the times: March for peace stirs emotions of onlookers
<http://www.townonline.com/north/beverly/34148543.htm>
Bill Woolley, bwoolley@cnc.com, townonline.com, January 31, 2002
More than 100 people, carrying painted signs and yelling anti-war slogans that were just as colorful, marched through sunny downtown Beverly Saturday afternoon. The marchers, strung peaceably along sidewalks, were led by a man using a bull horn to raise the volume on their poetic plea: "George Bush, we say no;ı racist bombs have got to go." ...
The following link is a very special one and worth going to. Turn up your sound to hear music: <http://www.luccaco.com/terra/terra.htm>.
Unions throughout the World Call for the Release of Imprisoned Trade Unionists in Korea
<http://kctu.org/solidarity/actiondayJan22.htm>
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, January 22, 2002
Trade unions and workers in over 30 countries converged on the Korean embassies and consulates in their respective countries to denounce the imprisonment trade unionists in Korea, to tell the Nobel Laureate President Kim Dae Jung "Shame on you!", and demanded the immediate release of KCTU president Dan Byung-ho, KCTU-KMWF President Mun Sung-hyun, and all imprisoned trade unionists. ...
Medicaid expansion defended
AUGUSTA Two years ago 23-year-old Kristen OıBrien had health insurance. Then her motherıs terminal illness changed everything. Her father quit his job to be at his wifeıs hospital bedside, and Kristen left college to watch over her younger brother. No longer a student, she lost her health insurance. For the past 1 1/2 years the Scarborough woman has been without insurance while working part time. ...
RN Attacked by Patient Goes to Trial on Assault Charges
<http://www.massnurses.org/News/002001/assault.html>
Massachusetts Nurses Association
On Monday, Feb. 4th, one of our members will be going to court for a trial on charges of assault against a patient who violently attacked him and another nurse last year. The MNA Task Force on Workplace Violence has rallied around this nurse and others who have been viciously attacked on the job. We are encouraging nurses who can make it to attend the trial to support our colleague and stand up for the protection of nurses and health care workers. As you may be aware, nurses are assaulted as much as prison guards and police officers. ...
Former Board of Trustees Joins with Coalition to Save Waltham Hospital
<http://www.massnurses.org/News/002001/botsavewalthm.html>
Massachusetts Nurses Association, February 1, 2002
WALTHAM - The former Board of Trustees of Waltham Hospital announced today that they have joined with the Coalition to Save Waltham Hospital in the effort to preserve the 116 year legacy of quality healthcare services in the Greater Waltham area. At a meeting tonight, the Coalition formed a steering committee to coordinate and advance efforts aimed at saving Waltham Hospital. Among the actions being undertaken by this new committee will be to prepare and mobilize members for the upcoming February 5th hearing on hospital closings before the Massachusetts Legislature's Joint Committee on Healthcare and the February 11th public hearing on Waltham Hospital by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. ...
Birmingham pledges health changes:
Gubernatorial candidate tells Stow crowd smaller hospitals must be saved
<http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/birming01252002.htm>
Joe Sulman, MetroWest Daily News, January 25, 2002
STOW - Senate President and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Thomas Birmingham last night said the state's health care system needs a drastic overhaul to save hospitals like Deaconess-Waltham. Bringing for-profit companies in to run the medical centers is only a stop-gap solution, he said. Increasing Medicaid funding and reducing the number of uninsured workers - who receive state-funded emergency medical treatment - will make Deaconess-Waltham and others able to survive. "It's both a public health issue and an economic health issue," Birmingham said. "Even if we can (save) Waltham-Deaconess, we still don't have a systematic approach." ...
Critics say health care recommendations fall short of need
<http://www.boston.com/dailynews/028/region/Critics_say_health_care_recommP.shtml>
Steve Leblanc, Associated Press, January 28, 2002
BOSTON (AP) A long awaited review of the state's health care system falls short of confronting the financial challenges facing patients, hospitals and insurers, critics said Monday. The report recommends the state boost fiscal oversight of hospitals and insurers, lower health care expenses by steering patients away from costly emergency rooms, and increase Medicaid payments to hospitals and nursing homes. The report by the 49-member blue ribbon commission is too broad in some areas and too narrow in others, critics said. The report spends too much time looking at the needs of hospitals and HMOs, said Rob Restuccia, executive director of the advocacy group, Health Care for All. ...
Cronin: Health care dilemmas require community approach
<http://www.berkshireeagle.com/default.asp?article=on&spuid=2187&article=on>
Susan Bush, Berkshire Eagle, January 29, 2002
WILLIAMSTOWN -- Answers to three key questions could salvage the financially troubled health care industry, according to John C.J. Cronin, executive director of Northern Berkshire Health Systems. "The three questions to be answered are: How much care are we going to provide, how will it be financed and who will make the decisions?" Cronin told about 175 people attending a breakfast meeting Friday at the Williams Inn sponsored by the Berkshire and Williamstown chambers of commerce. ...
Moore critical of report on health care in state
<http://www.telegram.com/news/inside/moore.html>
Shaun Sutner, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, January 30, 2002
BOSTON-- Count state Sen. Richard T. Moore among the many advocates and policy specialists disappointed with a blue-ribbon panel's report on the state's ailing health-care system. The 45-member Massachusetts Health Care Task Force, of which the Uxbridge Democrat is a member, recommended Monday that state government more closely monitor the health-care system. Mr. Moore is chairman of the Legislature's Health Care Committee. Some advocates, including Mr. Moore, want the state to take a more active role in keeping costs down and extending health care coverage to more residents. ...
Nursing homes sue over Medicaid
<http://www.businesstoday.com/business/business/nurs01302002.htm>
Jennifer Heldt Powell, Boston Herald, January 30, 2002
Nursing home operators are suing the state for more Medicaid money, saying an expected 1.5 percent increase in reimbursements jeopardizes the industry. Rate increases have averaged 2 percent annually for the last decade while costs have increased 4 percent to 5 percent, say industry leaders who filed suit in Massachusetts Superior Court. ...
Official wants beds at Deaconess-Waltham hospital preserved
<http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/deaconess01302002.htm>
Michelle Hillman, MetroWest Daily News, January 30, 2002
State health officials are laying the groundwork for the imminent closing of Deaconess-Waltham Hospital and working to preserve scarce, but desperately needed, mental health beds. Marylou Sudders, commissioner of the state's Department of Mental Health, said she is working with CareGroup Health System officials to see that the 24 licensed mental health beds at Deaconess-Waltham aren't lost in the shuffle as officials tie up loose ends and shut down the ailing facility in 70 days. ...
Letter: Loss of hospital will burden our police
<http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/opinion/lettking01302002.htm>
Timothy King & Gerard Corbett, Waltham Daily News Tribune, January 30, 2002
The Waltham Police Patrolman's Union Local 161 of the Massachusetts Coalition of Police would like to voice our concerns and show our support in using every means possible to keep the Deaconess-Waltham Hospital open. This Waltham institution of 116 years is a vital component of our community, employing 1,200 people, caring for more than 20,000 emergency cases annually, as well as caring for our injured and sick police officers and firefighters. ...
Nurse says safety complaints led to firing
<http://www.ecnnews.com/cgi-bin/s/thestory.pl?slug-SNURSE>
Paul Leighton, Salem News, February 1, 2002
SALEM -- The head of the nurses' union at Salem Hospital said she was fired last month because she has complained to state and national agencies about safety and staffing at the hospital. Fran O'Connell, a registered nurse who has worked at Salem Hospital for 30 years, said management told her she was fired because she abandoned a patient. But O'Connell said that charge is false. The real reason for her firing, she said, is her outspokenness about what she says is a shortage of nurses at the hospital and her concern for patients' safety. "It's because I'm a union president and I've been making a lot of noise," said O'Connell, a 50-year-old Beverly resident. ...
Quincy offers $10,000 hiring bonus for nurses: Plan aims to attract experienced, in-demand workers
<http://ledger.southofboston.com/display/inn_news/news01.txt>
<http://ledger.southofboston.com/archives>
Sue Reinert, The Patriot Ledger, February 1, 2002
Quincy Medical Center is offering a record high $10,000 hiring bonus to recruit emergency room nurses, radiology technicians, and other hard-to-find medical workers. People in the health care industry said the hospital's sign-on bonus is the highest they have ever heard of, even in an increasingly competitive market. "It's astronomical," said David Schildmeier, spokesman for the Massachusetts Hospital Association. "I was shocked," said Diana Franchitto, spokeswoman for Caritas Norwood Hospital, which offers hiring bonuses of up to $5,000. The $10,000 payment is the same as adding $4.80 an hour to someone's pay for a full year. It will go to newly hired, experienced emergency room and intensive care nurses, radiology and ultrasound technicians, and a chief nuclear medicine technician, according to a flyer the hospital distributed. The hospital wants people getting the sign-up bonuses to stay for at least a year. ...
Deaconess-Waltham closing may strain Newton-Wellesley
<http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/newthospitalwalt02012002.htm>
Ryan Kearney, Waltham Daily News Tribune, February 1, 2002
NEWTON - Newton-Wellesley Hospital is bracing for a possible increase in patients if a recent decision goes through pulling the plug on nearby Deaconess-Waltham Hospital. Some opponents of the closing say it will worsen emergency medical care for Newton residents. The 18-member board of CareGroup, Deaconess-Waltham's corporate parent, voted unanimously Jan. 11 to shut down the financially ailing hospital, one of Waltham's largest employers. The hospital, slated to shut its doors in April, handles more than 20,000 emergency room visits a year. ...
Health reductions criticized
<http://www.telegram.com/news/page_one/medcuts.html>
Richard Nangle, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, February 1, 2002
Advocates for public health programs are gearing up for a long and aggressive battle against cuts proposed by Gov. Jane M. Swift in her $23.5 billion budget for fiscal 2003. While the budget increases state spending by 2.7 percent, the state Department of Public Health faces a $50 million cut, on top of $35 million in cuts incorporated into this year's budget. More than $10 million of the fiscal 2003 cuts would come from disease-prevention line items that the administration has combined. Included in the mix is money for hepatitis C outreach, breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, dental care for the disabled, family health services, osteoporosis, prostate cancer and smoking prevention. ...
Hospital Trustees Seek to Resolve Rising Trouble
<http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2002/02/01/hospital_trustees.php>
Chris Burrell, Martha's Vineyard Gazette, February 2, 2002
Three weeks after a leading surgeon at Martha's Vineyard Hospital submitted his resignation, hospital board trustees devoted an entire press conference to the matter, also releasing new letters, from both the surgeon and a group of doctors, that paint a picture of souring relations between hospital leadership and the medical staff. That picture expanded as board members fielded questions about other troubles at the hospital: the ongoing nurses' contract dispute and continued concerns about the management style of chief executive officer Kevin Burchill. ...
United Health Care Workers File for Union Election At St. Anthonyıs Medical Center
<http://www.uhcw.org>
United Health Care Workers of Greater Saint Louis, January 23, 2002
Health care workers at St. Anthonyıs Medical Center in South St. Louis County will get another shot at unionization when the United Health Care Workers of Greater St. Louis (UHCW) files for an election with the National Labor Relations Board January 23. Sharon Penrod, UHCW president, said more than 50 percent of the hospitalıs 2,400 employees have signed union authorization cards. Only 30 percent is needed to file, and a simple majority is required to win the election. St. Anthonyıs is the third largest hospital in the St. Louis area. In several previous union election attempts, the UHCW lost by slim margins. But Penrod thinks the union is in a stronger position now, for several reasons. ³First, the registered nurses at St. Johnıs Mercy Medical Center recently won their first union contract, which included 18% raises over three years as well as improvements in patient care practices. Theyıve shown the skeptics what can be accomplished by dedicated unionists in the St. Louis-area health care industry. Second, health care organizers at St. Anthonyıs have several campaigns under their belts. Weıre prepared to counter the union-busting strategies hospital management has used in the past.² ...
Shaky economy, terrorist attacks are cited as reasons for influx at nursing schools
<http://home.post-dispatch.com/channel/pdweb.nsf/da37732b0078d6c285256ad500494df3/86256a0e0068fe5086256b50003a88c2?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,nurses>
Colleen Carroll, Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, January 29, 2002
Amid a nationwide nursing shortage, some area nursing schools have seen an influx of new applicants in recent months. Officials credit a shaky economy and publicity after Sept. 11 for the shift. "That tragedy made them think about how they can make a difference in the world," said Elaine Dempsey, director of marketing and recruitment at St. Louis University School of Nursing. Since the terrorist attacks this fall, Dempsey said she had heard "over and over again" from callers who say the nurses serving at ground zero inspired them to explore the profession. Some of that admiration has crystallized into action: Applications for next year's freshman class are up 52 percent from the same time last year. ...
St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center Strike
<http://www.nysna.org/NEWS/current/stcath.htm>
2 February 2002 - Day 69
Latest Developments:
Striking RNs from St. Catherine of Siena will again picket from 12:00 Noon to 4:00 PM, Monday, February 4, outside the corporate offices of Catholic Health Services of Long Island. CHS is the parent corporation of St. Catherineıs. Offices are located at 1 Huntington Quadrangle in Melville.
Canterbury Nurses Push Ahead With Strike
<http://www.newsroom.co.nz/story/82522-99999.html>
NewsRoom.co.nz, January 24, 2002
The Canterbury District Health Board will now face up to 15 days of strikes by nurses from the end of the month. Two thousand nurses yesterday rejected an offer of a pay increase averaging 6-percent and lodged notice of an additional 7 days of strike action, in addition to eight days previously notified. The Board will hold an emergency meeting today to discuss the implications. The Nurses Organisation Chief Executive, Geoff Annals, said members were looking for something in the order of a 10-percent pay increase. ...
Hospital Board Ostracised By Doctors
<http://www.newsroom.co.nz/story/82792-99999.html>
NewsRoom.co.nz, January 26, 2002
Canterbury hospital medical staff passed a vote of no confidence in the chief executive and chairman of their District Health Board over their handling of the threatened nurses' strike. 2,000 of the region's nurses lifted the first five days of planned strike action yesterday, but are still set to strike for 10 days from February 4. Around 12 patients, including newborn twins and two expectant mothers, have already been moved to other hospitals to avoid the strike action. The Canterbury Hospitals Medical Staff Association says it supports the nurses in their fight for the pay and conditions they deserve. Association chairman Frank Frizelle says the hospital's senior management have known this action was looming for several months but have failed to deal with the issues. ...
Catch-up claim behind nurses' pay demands
<http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,1080684a11,FF.html>
Stuff.com, January 26, 2002
The threatened nurses' strike in Canterbury was mostly a matter of "catch up" for nurses, mediator Walter Grills said before yesterday's talks. Canterbury nurses' pay packets have fallen behind other areas. They have been offered a 6 per cent increase, which would still leave them behind other nurses. Thirteen months ago Auckland Healthcare nurses won pay rises of up to 10.3 per cent. The latest Canterbury offer has been declined. The new debt-ridden board knows nurses have been devalued but says it can't offer any more and recover all the nurses' losses in one year. ...
Nurses Vote on Strike Plan
<http://www.newsroom.co.nz/story/83016-99999.html>
NewsRoom.co.nz, January 28, 2002
Canterbury nurses were due to start stopwork meetings at noon today to vote on the future of their pay dispute with the Canterbury District Health Board. After backing off a 15-day strike planned to start on Wednesday, about 2000 nurses and midwives have given notice they will strike for four days from February 10. ...
Whakatane Doctors To Hold Stopwork Meeting
<http://www.newsroom.co.nz/story/83372-99999.html>
NewsRoom.co.nz, January 30, 2002
Senior doctors at Whakatane Hospital are to hold a stopwork meeting next week in protest over what they say are onerous working conditions. The Association of Salaried Medical Staff says the two-hour meeting is not industrial action, but is designed to send a message to management. ...
Canterbury nurses call off strike
<http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=887424&thesection=news&thesubsection=general>
NZPA, January 30, 2002
The Nurses Organisation has called off its planned four-day strike in Canterbury. The 2000 nurses from 14 hospitals had planned to walk out from February 10 in protest at a 6 per cent wage increase offer from the Canterbury District Health Board. The board said the strike would have crippled hospitals and put patients' lives at risk. The nurses called off all action this morning after a round of hospital stopwork meetings and secret ballot voting over the last two days. Members of the Nurses Organisation voted conclusively to return to the mediated bargaining table. ...
Hospital stoush looms in Auckland
<http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=887813&thesection=news&thesubsection=general>
Martin Johnston, New Zealand Herald, February 1, 2002
A proposed children's heart unit is in doubt and the scene is set for industrial strife in Auckland after the Government ordered health managers to cut spending. The Health Ministry has directed the Auckland District Health Board to save money as its deficit climbs towards $70 million. The board wants to save at least $40 million a year, which puts pressure on plans for a $34 million heart unit at Starship children's hospital and on the new pay round. ...
Hospitals routinely break labor laws
<http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=172125>
Aftenposten, August 11, 2001
Norwegian hospitals are so short-staffed that they routinely violate the country's strict labor laws. One of two nurses who slept through a heart attack alarm last week had worked 27 hours in just a day and a half. ...
Vacancies highlight nursing shortage
<http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=175773>
Aftenposten, August 15, 2001
At least 5,000 nursing positions at hospitals around the country are currently vacant, according to the Norwegian nurses' union. The union wants the state to make nursing more attractive. ...
Nurses may strike after New Year
<http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=228936>
Aftenposten, November 13, 2001
Nurses at Norway's county-run hospitals say they're ready to strike if the state fails to boost their pay when it takes over hospital ownership in January. Negotiations with new state paymasters aren't going well. ...
Nurses threaten hospital strikes
<http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=253004>
Aftenposten, January 4, 2002
Norway's nurses' union declared Friday that little progress had been made on wage talks with the state-run organization that took over control of public Norwegian hospitals from January 1. A mediator has been called in with a strike threat looming from January 22. ...
Nurses poised to strike at midnight
<http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=261552>
Aftenposten, January 21, 2002
Hopes were fading on Monday that mediators would be able to avert a strike by nurses at selected hospitals around the country. The nurses want higher pay. ...
Nurses strike for higher pay
<http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=262095>
Aftenposten, January 22, 2002
More than 220 nurses walked off the job Tuesday in the first phase of a strike aimed at winning higher wages. The strike is initially affecting 10 hospitals around the country. ...
Nursing strike set to spread
<http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=263778>
Aftenposten, January 24, 2002
A nursing strike that began Tuesday will spread Friday to two more hospitals and involve a total of 291 nurses. The nurses are holding out for higher pay from the state, which took over the hospitals from the counties on January 1. ...
More nurses go on strike
<http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=266282>
Aftenposten, January 29, 2002
Norway's nurses' union is calling more of its members out on strike this week, as their campaign for higher wages from the state picks up pace. Nearly 350 nurses are now off the job, with no settlement in sight. ...
Oregon Health and Science University Strike
<http://www.fairpay4nurses.org>
February 02, 2002 - Day 48
State Rules OHSU Violating Labor Law
Portland, Ore- The Oregon Employment Relations Board ruled today that Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) violated labor law by paying extra wages to registered nurses who cross the picket line. OHSU has been ordered to stop the payments immediately. The ruling is in response to an unfair labor practice complaint filed by the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) on behalf of striking OHSU nurses. All three members of the Employment Relations Board agreed with the nurses that University administrators broke the law by paying strikebreakers more than they offered the bargaining unit in the last contract proposal. ...
Oregonians Worried About Patient Care at OHSU
Portland Ore.- A large majority of all Oregonians are concerned about the safety of patients at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) and Doernbecher Hospitals, who are being cared for by out-of-state replacement nurses during the strike by regular registered nurses. That is according to a statewide poll conducted last week for the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) by Moore Information of Portland. The poll results also show a majority of Oregonians support the nurses in their strike for improved patient care at OHSU/Doernbecher facilities. ...
Call Your Lawmakers ASAP
Members of the Oregon legislature will meet soon in a one-day special session to rebalance the state budget. Included in their deliberations is the budget of OHSU, which could be cut by as much as 33-million dollars. Please contact your state representative, state senator, and legislative leadership. Tell them OHSU has spent nearly that much money on scab nurses in an effort to break the strike. Tell your lawmakers that OHSU management needs to stop wasting taxpayers' money on the strike and needs to settle the strike immediately by offering the nurses a reasonable contract. ... And call the Governor: John Kitzhaber: 503-378-3111.
Polite on picket line
<http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/101196334716770159.xml>
Wendy Y. Lawton, The Oregonian, January 25, 2002
Cursing, shoving, tire-slashing, rock-tossing -- Lloyd Davis has witnessed picket-line ugliness up close. The Pinkerton security guard has watched a teacher spit in the face of a strike-breaker, a woodworker toss nails under traffic and a longshoreman carve a passing car with a knife. But after working 20 strikes, nothing prepared Davis for the nurses' walkout at Oregon Health & Science University. "Best behaved group I've seen," he said. ...
Extra strike pay to nurses illegal, state board says
<http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/business/10123953391860997.xml>
Joe Rojas-Burke, The Oregonian, January 30, 2002
Oregon Health & Science University broke the law by paying bonus wages to every nursing employee who returned to work during the ongoing strike, a state agency ruled Tuesday. In a unanimous decision, the state Employment Relations Board ordered OHSU to stop paying the extra $7.50 an hour. The university offered the extra wages to all nurses working all shifts during the first weeks of the strike but said it has since limited the incentive. The bonus payments exceeded anything the employer offered in negotiations with the union, which amounted to bad-faith bargaining, the board ruled. And bonus payments to lure nurses back to work also interfered with the right of employees to strike, the board said. ...
Poll says public sympathy is behind striking nurses
<http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/101248181016371308.xml>
Joe Rojas-Burke, The Oregonian, January 31, 2002
Striking nurses have more sympathy from the public than does Oregon Health & Science University, according to a poll released Wednesday by the nurses union. About 50 percent of state residents sided with the striking nurses versus 31 percent who sided with OHSU, which includes a medical school and the state's busiest hospital center. About 20 percent of the public expressed no preference, according to the poll, which was conducted for the Oregon Nurses Association by Moore Information. ...
Nurses will gather, seek ways to improve ailing conditions in workplace
<http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/101256816119945151.xml>
Wendy Y. Lawton, The Oregonian, February 1, 2002
Nurses meet today in Eugene to kick off a statewide effort to improve workplace conditions, one key to solving the nursing shortage. About 200 executives, managers and front-line caregivers will huddle in a hotel ballroom to talk about retooling care in virtually every place that Oregon's 29,249 registered nurses work. By making hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, prisons and schools better places to treat the sick or injured, organizers hope the state can draw more nurses in -- and keep them. ...
The OHSU strike plods along
<http://www.oregonlive.com/editorials/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/editorial/10125681291994552.xml>
Editorial, The Oregonian, February 1, 2002
On Monday, a state mediator plans to sit down with the nurses' union and management at Oregon Health & Science University for their first meeting in two weeks. It's about time. The effort to resolve the strike at Portland's largest employer has been moving along at such a leisurely pace -- it's been seven weeks since the strike began -- you'd almost think there wasn't much at stake. ...
Staff shortages divert some emergency cases
<http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/20020126er3.asp>
Christopher Snowbeck, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 26, 2002
The shortage of nurses and other health-care professionals in area hospitals is forcing the diversion of ambulances from the region's emergency rooms, hospital officials said yesterday. Those officials stressed, however, that ambulances are being diverted only in low-risk cases. As hospitals struggle to hire nurses, pharmacists, technicians and other professionals, they are making patients wait longer in the emergency room before admitting them for care. At the same time, more people are seeking care in emergency rooms than before, according to figures released yesterday by the Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania. ...
Home care ignored in bailout
Tom Precious, Buffalo News, January 21, 2002
ALBANY - Alarms sounded for years about the strained health care system losing caregivers like Joyce Dean to better-paying jobs. Dean, a registered nurse, spends five days a week in a Buffalo home, caring for a 2-year-old boy who breathes through a trachea tube. Despite her 24 years in nursing, Dean does the work for $13.50 an hour. She describes the work as a "life commitment." The rhetoric in Albany to resolve the health care industry's shortage of trained professionals last week turned into a multibillion-dollar package to pump up salaries of hundreds of thousands of health care workers across New York. But not for Dean. And not for tens of thousands of health care workers who provide care in the homes of sick and disabled people. ...
Health Union Chief Quits Dem Panel
<http://www.nydn.com/2002-01-23/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-139081.asp>
Joel Siegel, New York Daily News, January 23, 2002
Health care workers union boss Dennis Rivera has resigned from the Democratic National Committee, days after praising Gov. Pataki and promising to help Republicans keep control of the state Senate, the Daily News has learned. Rivera sent a letter to DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe last Friday withdrawing as a committee member from New York, a position he held since 1997. ...
A politically powerful union and a New...
Associated Press, January 24, 2002
ALBANY, NY (AP) A politically powerful union and a New York City hospitals group paid for newspaper and radio ads Thursday thanking Gov. George Pataki for the multi-billion dollar health financing bill he rushed through the Legislature last week. The legislation, which Pataki planned to sign into law Friday during a ceremony at a hospital in New York City, provides up to $4.7 billion for health care over the next four years. The money primarily will go to boost salaries of health care workers, including the 210,000 people represented by one of the sponsors of the ads, Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union. The Greater New York Hospital Association also paid for the ads through the Healthcare Education Project it jointly runs with Local 1199. ...
Union Leader Rips Pair For Bashing Health Bill
<http://www.nydn.com/2002-01-27/News_and_Views/Beyond_the_City/a-139492.asp>
Joe Mahoney, New York Daily News, January 27, 2002
ALBANY - As promised, powerful labor leader Dennis Rivera unleashed a stinging mass-mail attack on Democratic gubernatorial candidates Andrew Cuomo and Carl McCall, accusing them of "playing politics with our future" by sniping at Gov. Pataki's health care plan. In a mailing sent to 260,000 members and retirees of Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, Rivera accused Cuomo and McCall of opposing pay increases for hospital and home care workers, which are included in the new law. "Unfortunately, they have placed political expediency and opportunity over principle. Because they want to run against Gov. Pataki this fall, they attack whatever he does, regardless of its merit and regardless of the public good," Rivera wrote. The union leader resigned last week from the Democratic National Committee, fueling speculation he will throw Local 1199's support to Republican Pataki's expected bid for a third term. ...
Mass. Clean Elections Law Ordered
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40441-2002Jan25.html>
Leslie Miller, Associated Press, January 25, 2002
BOSTON Massachusetts' highest court ordered the Legislature on Friday to provide the money needed to put into effect the state's clean-elections law, which offers tax dollars to candidates who agree to limits on both their spending and fund-raising. Voters approved the clean-elections law 2-to-1 in 1998, but the Legislature has refused to release the necessary money. In a 5-2 ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court said Friday that as long as the law remains on the books, the Legislature has a duty under the Massachusetts Constitution to provide the money needed to carry it out. That means the law will go into effect with the current 2002 election cycle, which will include a governor's race. "I told my wife to put the champagne on ice," said Warren Tolman, a clean-elections candidate for governor whose campaign was running out of money as he awaited the high court's ruling. "It's a huge victory for us. It's a huge victory for cleaning up the corrupt campaign finances in Massachusetts." ...
Democratic gubernatorial candidates spar in Waltham
<http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/waltdebate01272002.htm>
MetroWest Daily News, January 27, 2002
WALTHAM - Newly re-energized candidate Warren Tolman threw down the clean elections gauntlet yesterday, demanding that the other Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls adhere to the campaign finance law. Fresh from a victory before the Supreme Judicial Court, Tolman received loud applause and congratulations from activists and candidates alike, at a Democratic debate at Brandeis University. ...
Wrong man for the job
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2002/01/28/ED109489.DTL>
San Francisco Chronicle, January 28, 2002
IT'S HARD to imagine a worse choice to guide the nation's AIDS policy than Tom Coburn, the former Oklahoma congressman who has spent years denouncing homosexuality and fighting HIV-prevention strategies that rely on condoms. ...
George W. in the Garden of Gethsemane
Dear George,
When it's all over in a couple months, and you're packing up your pretzels and Spot and heading back to Texas, what will be your biggest regret? Not getting out more often and seeing the sights around Rock Creek Park? Never once visiting the newly-renovated IKEA in Woodbridge, Virginia? Or buying your way to the White House with money from a company that committed the biggest corporate swindle in American history? ...
Why we must stop MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) results from being placed on student transcripts
<http://www.caremass.org/organizing/transcripts/transcripts_main.htm>
The departmentıs proposal is aimed at pressuring students, teachers and parents to take the MCAS seriously even though it doesnıt measure important skills or knowledge and isnıt a valid measure of student readiness for college. The only reason to include MCAS levels on student transcripts is to give the impression that the MCAS is (or will become) another requirement for entrance into college. If this happens, it is only natural that students (and their parents) will want to achieve the highest score possible on the tests in order to compete for college admission. This means more attention and resources will be spent chasing after higher scores on an invalid and narrow test without an ounce of improved education to show for all the effort. ...
Strike looms in hospital revamp row
<http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,3686018%255E3102,00.html>
Robert Reid, Queensland Courier Mail, January 31, 2002
UNIONS are preparing to strike over health and safety concerns sparked by redevelopment of the Cairns Base Hospital. Staff and nurses from three unions will meet next week to discuss a range of issues that cover stressful working conditions, low morale and claims of poor management practices. The $130 million hospital redevelopment on the Cairns foreshore started six years ago and is expected to be completed in June. Insiders at the hospital, who asked not to be named because of fears they will be sacked, say overcrowding is so great that patients are moved around several times a day and in some cases there are no beds available after surgery. ...
Cala nurses still not paid
<http://www.dispatch.co.za/2002/02/01/easterncape/BCALA.HTM>
Stan Mzimba, Dispatch, February 1, 2002
UMTATA--It was a bleak Christmas for 20 nurses working at Cala Hospital - all because of incorrect information fed into the computer at the Department of Health in Bisho stating that their "contracts" had ended. Some of the nurses have been working at the hospital since 1989 and have been paid regularly. ...
HCA creating own temp nursing staff
<http://www.tennessean.com/business/archives/02/01/13041445.shtml?Element_ID=13041445>
Bill Lewis, The Tennessean, January 31, 2002
HCA Inc. is going head-on with nurse staffing agencies in its key national markets, including Nashville, in hopes of easing a severe shortage of nurses and cutting its temporary hiring costs. The national, for-profit hospital company is making a ''very aggressive'' move into the temporary staffing business for nurses in markets across the country, said Vice President Larry Burkhardt. An HCA subsidiary, All About Staffing, is requiring agencies to submit bids for new contracts that cut prices and eliminate non-compete clauses that prevented HCA from hiring nurses away from the agencies. ...
Plan to withdraw treatment from racist patients
Racist hospital patients who persistently refuse care from doctors and nurses of a different ethnic origin will lose their right to treatment under the NHS, according to guidelines being prepared by the Department of Health. Plans to change the rules were disclosed yesterday as an argument raged over whether the treatment of Rose Addis at the Whittington hospital in north London was affected by her alleged refusal to be undressed by black nurses. While avoiding comment on Mrs Addis's racial attitudes, a department source said officials had been working for several months on guidelines to implement the government's policy of zero tolerance of racism. ...
Blair: Problems With Health System
<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-britain-health-care0126jan26.story>
Associated Press, January 26, 2002
NEWCASTLE, England -- Britain's National Health Service provides excellent care to the majority of its patients despite instances of poor treatment and unacceptably long waiting times for some patients, Prime Minister Tony Blair said. Blair, embroiled in a headline-grabbing controversy about the treatment of a 94-year-old woman at a London hospital, on Friday accused the opposition Conservative Party of denigrating the health service. "It's denigration for a purpose: to argue that the public services aren't worth saving," Blair said. ...
Victoria's ratios cited in US nurse shortage solution
<http://www.anfvic.asn.au>
Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch)
Victorian nursesı landmark nurse-patient ratios was reported recently in a Los Angeles Times article analysing Americaıs critical nurse shortage.
The article, by American journalist and author Suzanne Gordon fresh from her visit to Victoria last July, cited our nurse-patient ratios as the only example of a constructive initiative addressing the workload problems underlying the global nurse shortage.
The call for legislated nurse-patient ratios is getting louder across the US as management practices try to compensate for the nurse shortage, but instead exacerbate the reasons for the systemic nurse shortage.
The Victorian State Government has recruited a remarkable 2300 nurses in less than 12 months. This should be proof that the underlying solution to the nursing shortage is obvious - improve nursesı working conditions and their ability to provide good patient care.
Copyright 2000 Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch)
Fels foils state's nurses plan
<http://www.theage.com.au/news/state/2002/01/25/FFX1P4P3UWC.html>
Annabel Crabb & Tom Noble, The Age, January 25, 2002
The national competition watchdog has stymied an attempt by the Victorian Government to save money by cutting the inflated wages of agency nurses in public hospitals. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Allan Fels said yesterday he had refused interim permission for the government to set up its own exclusive agency of nurses to undercut existing agencies, which charge hourly rates up to four times the award. The government now faces continuing agency fee bills of more than $1 million a week while it argues a lengthy case before the ACCC on whether it can pursue the strategy. A nursing shortage has forced the government's public hospitals body, Health Purchasing Victoria, to employ nurses from private agencies, which can cost up to $200 an hour. ...
Nurses fear for lives over weapons cache at Curtin
<http://news.f2.com.au/2002/02/01/FFXW3KZZDQC.html>
AAP, February 1, 2002
Nurses at the Curtin detention centre fear for their lives and one has resigned over the discovery of a cache of knives allegedly stashed by detainees. Australian Nursing Federation state secretary Mark Olsen (sic) said nurses held grave fears for their personal safety since junior security officers at the centre told them they had found a stash of 20 knives and blades hoarded by detainees. They had not seized the blades nor reported the cache to management because of the "entrenched culture of fear, intimidation and violence" at the centre, which is managed by Australasian Correctional Management (ACM), Mr Olsen (sic) said. ...