Nurses Join Occupy Wall Street Actions Today in Boston, New York, Other Cities, Support Protest Movement

NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- National Nurses United, the largest union and professional association of nurses in the US, today re-affirmed that it stands with the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests and rallies and announced that NNU members will be attending support actions today in New York, Boston, San Francisco and other cities.

In Boston, hundreds of RNs, member of the Massachusetts Nurses Association/NNU plan to rally at 3 p.m. in Dewey Square, Outside South Station in Support of the Occupy Boston Protest in Dewey Square.

In New York, NNU contingents from Maryland, Pennsylvania, California, Washington, D.C., Illinois and New York will join other unions, organizations and community groups in support of an Occupy Wall Street rally beginning at 5 p.m.

NNU is also on hand at a march in San Francisco today, and has joined regular protest actions in Los Angeles that are part of the growing national movement.

In a statement issued last week, NNU said, "We applaud the commitment, savvy and sacrifice exhibited by the multitude of students, union members, clergy, and many others from all walks of life who have come together to loudly and clearly place the blame for the nation's pain where it belongs" with Wall Street, which "caused the financial crisis."

NNU is continuing to step up the call for a Wall Street financial transaction tax (FTT) that could raise up to hundreds of billions of dollars annually through even a modest tax rate on trades of stocks, bonds, derivatives, currencies, and similar financial transactions and be used to help rebuild America with good jobs, guaranteed healthcare for all and other Main Street reforms.

In June, more than 1,000 NNU members, joined by labor and community activists, rallied in support of such a tax on Wall Street across from the New York Stock Exchange, and outside the U.S. headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C.

In September, thousands of NNU members held soup kitchens, health clinics, and street theater actions at 60 Congressional offices in 21 states to urge Congress members to support the FTT.

Next, NNU will sponsor a protest in Washington November 3 in conjunction with an international day of action in support of the FTT coinciding with the G-20 meeting in France.

More background about the nurses' campaign is available at www.mainstreetcontract.org.

SOURCE National Nurses United