National Nurses United and Massachusetts Nurses Association Endorse Ed Markey for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts Special Election

CANTON, Mass., May 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- National Nurses United, the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States, and its affiliate, the Massachusetts Nurses Association/NNU, announced today its endorsement of Congressman Ed Markey for U.S. Senate in the June 25 Massachusetts special election.

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"Congressman Markey is a champion of the issues that matter most to nurses: federal and state legislation to require safe RN-to-patient staffing limits for nurses in acute care hospitals, universal single-payer health care, a robust social insurance program and a financial transaction tax on Wall Street trades that would generate hundreds of billions of dollars every year," said MNA/NNU President, Donna Kelly-Williams, RN.

Markey has a longstanding track record of supporting no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security, and of creating living wage jobs to get unemployed and under-employed Massachusetts residents back to work.

"We need someone in office who puts patients first," said Karen Higgins, RN, NNU Co-President. "Rep. Markey believes in corporate accountability and in ensuring that our society protects those who are most vulnerable.  He has stood up against the financial elite who tanked our economy, destroyed our jobs and shattered our families' chances for economic security, and he supports policies that prevent such reckless behavior from ever happening again."

Nurses have always been on the frontlines caring for the sick and vulnerable, but since the most recent financial collapse they have had to watch their patients come in sicker and with more complicated diagnoses than ever before.

"Ed Markey stands for nurses and the communities we serve," Higgins added, "and so nurses are proud to stand with him."

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 National Nurses United and Massachusetts Nurses Association