Hundreds of Nurses to Call on White House, Congress June 7

Cite Economy in Broad Decline of Health in Their Communities, Call for New Agenda, a Main Street Contract for the American People

More than 150 Massachusetts Nurses Will Attend the Events

WASHINGTON, June 2, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hundreds of registered nurses from 31 states, including more than 150 frontline nurses from Massachusetts, joined by labor and community allies will gather outside the White House, picket the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and rally near Congress Tuesday, June 7 to call for a new, Main Street Contract for the American People.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20060525/NETH016LOGO)

National Nurses United, the nation's largest union and professional association of nurses representing 170,000 RNs, will propose a program for rebuilding American communities with jobs, healthcare, education and other urgent needs, funded through a fair tax policy targeted to those on Wall Street who created the economic crisis. Nurses will emphasize that theme with a spirited protest at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce headquarters

Among those scheduled to address the nurses are AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders and Barbara Boxer (authors of two NNU-sponsored bills), and other legislators and community leaders.

What:  RNs Call for a Main Street Contract for America

When: Monday, June 6
"Assault on Our Lives, Our Patients, Our Communities; Our Response"
10:00 a.m. to 12 noon
Marriott Wardman Park, 2660 Woodley Road NW, Washington

Tuesday, June 7
8 a.m.-10 a.m. - Speeches by Trumka, legislators
Washington Marriott, Wardman Park, 2660 Woodley Road NW, Washington

10:45 a.m.-11:45 a.m. - Rally, Lafayette Square, Picket, Chamber of Commerce, 1615 H Street NW, Washington DC

12:15 p.m.-1 p.m. – Rally, Upper Senate Park, 200 New Jersey Ave NW, with speeches by Sens. Boxer, Sanders

In addition to proposing legislative solutions, the RNs will describe specific experiences faced by their patients and families, stories of severe hardship faced in the continuing economic crisis that is America today.  The RNs will outline plans for a national campaign to promote changes in national priorities in Washington and state capitols.

Following the rally opposite Congress, the nurses will move into the Capitol for legislative visits.

"We need an alternative vision, and an alternative program in America," said NNU Co-president Karen Higgins, RN from Massachusetts. "The American people do not want more cuts in our most enduring safety net programs, and they have had enough of 'shared sacrifice' that places all the burden on the families who have already suffered far too much."

"Nurses see the fallout every day, and we are ready to chart a new course for a better life for all Americans," said Deborah Burger RN, NNU Co-president.

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest professional health care organization and the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.  The MNA is also a founding member of National Nurses United, the largest national nurses union in the United States with more than 170,000 members from coast to coast.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association