For Immediate Release
Sunday, May 06, 2007
President McEntee’s Statement on National Nurses Week
AFSCME-UNA Celebrate National Nurses Week May 6 - 12, 2007
From the halls of Walker Methodist Health Care Center in Minneapolis to the corridors of Resurrection Health Care in Chicago to the battlefields of Iraq — AFSCME salutes its more than 60,000 nurses and the 2.9 million women and men nationwide who dedicate themselves daily to the nursing profession and the welfare and safety of patients.
As members of the most respected profession, nurses are vital to ensuring that our hospitals and communities are able to meet the health care needs of the American people. Nurses are on the frontlines advocating for patient care, despite facing the challenges of mandatory overtime and employers who oppose their efforts to form unions.
An estimated 10,000 people a year get fired because they want a voice at work, including those who care for some of our neediest citizens. Nurses should not have to fear losing their jobs when they advocate on behalf of their patients. That is why AFSCME is calling on Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. The system has to be fixed to give all working people the freedom to make their own choice about whether to have a union, and bargain for better wages and benefits. If the law is changed to allow more workers to make their own decision — without management coercion — more of America’s workers will be able to ensure fair treatment on the job and improve their standard of living.
