4,000 brave women and men, RNs from the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, are spending this week on the picket lines outside of Sutter Health Hospitals throughout Northern California, on a 10-day strike over patient care issues.  Let me tell you about it, and introduce you to some of the RNs, because this is an important strike for a re-energized American labor movement and a key moment for the nation’s battle for quality healthcare.

First up, of course, the nurses:

This is a long strike for any worker, but one that turns on the most basic issues of nursing and patient safety.  Sutter Health is, even by HMO standards, an outlier in their push to cut corners on patient care in order to bump up corporate profits.  You can’t argue with their success on either count.  In 2006, Sutter reported record profits of $587 million.  Much of those profits come from routinely understaffing their hospital units by denying meal and rest breaks to nurses.  As a practical matter, what this means is that if a nurse, in the midst of a 12-hour shift, decides to take her lunch hour…then her patients lose coverage.

Can you imagine that terrible ethical dilemma?  Grab a sandwich or make sure my sick patients are cared for?  Especially for nurses, who define their work as “patient advocacy?”

That’s why these nurses had to walk out and make a personal sacrifice for the good of their patients and their profession.

Sutter’s response?  To embark on a campaign of harassment, intimidation, and lies.  Read more about it here.  Sutter has threatened to fire strikers, cut off health benefits, has posted guards at nursing stations to glare at RNs, and has taken to regularly demonizing its own nurses in the press.

The good news?  Sutter foolishly picked a fight with a group of (mostly) women who are not easily intimidated…especially by some corporate hack who have shown they don’t care about patient care.

The better news?  This strike affirms the relevance of America’s labor movement to the key questions our country is undergoing.  This strike has been marked by deep public support and sympathy, with Sutter Health’s behavior roundly criticized by elected officials, the public, and the news media.  High-profile strikes like this that win over the public make it easier for other groups of workers to stand up for their own rights.  It’s worth noting that the recent increase in the numbers of unionized workers has largely come from the ranks of healthcare workers-and that CNA/NNOC is the nation’s fastest-growing union.

And the best news?  The nurses of Sutter Health are demonstrating the way forward in our country’s struggle for guaranteed healthcare.  A major reason our health system is so dysfunctional is that corporations like Sutter Health have rigged the system and treat patients as profit-makers, not as human beings.  If we can win patient safety advances at Sutter, we can win them across the country-especially if we inspire the nation’s nurses to continue taking their patient advocacy from the bedside to the statehouse and even to the streets.

If these nurses inspire you, why not call the CEO of Sutter, Pat Fry at 916 286 6752 and tell him it’s time to settle with the nurses!

…cross-posted at the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association’s Breakroom Blog, as we fight to bring about guaranteed healthcare on the single-payer model…

(Crossposted from Medical Cannabis: Voices from the Frontlines, the blog of Americans for Safe Access. I work for Americans for Safe Acces.)

Yesterday was a historic day for the medical marijuana movement. SJR 20, a resolution that calls for an end to DEA attacks on California’s medical cannabis patients and providers, cleared the California Senate Health Committee.

Unsurprisingly, the votes came down on party lines. One Republican Senator stated that there is a pill that patients could use instead of smoking marijuana. Committee Chairwoman Sheila Kuehl responded that a pill did exist (Marinol), but that it is too strong for many patients. It’s good to know that many of our state representatives are well educated on this issue and willing to stand up for patients and providers.

Californians have good reason to rejoice about this win. The resolution, authored by Senator Carole Migden, not only calls on the DEA to leave patients and providers alone, but further calls on the President and Congress to enact federal legislation to end the raids. If passed, this will be the first time in U.S. history that a state legislature has denounced the DEA’s interference in state laws and tactics used against medical cannabis patients and providers.

(As a friend of both Mary and David, I couldn’t be happier to see them teaming up and bringing a progressive message to Ventura County. – promoted by David Dayen)

Hello Calitics!  My name is David Atkins–though most of you probably know me better on the blogs as thereisnospoon.  I’m writing today on behalf of Mary Pallant, the candidate I believe is best-suited to take CA-24 by storm and turn this district a bright shade of Progressive blue!  I’ve had several meetings with Mary over the last few years, and she has impressed me greatly with her tough-mindedness, can-do spirit, strong knowledge of the issues, organizational prowess, and personal charisma and charm.  I believe in Mary and her ability to win this seat–and now that I live and work in Ventura County, I’ve signed on to be the Netroots Coordinator for her campaign.  From now until November, you’ll see Mary and I posting under this account to give you updates on the progress of our campaign to get rid of Elton Gallegly, one of the worst rubber-stamp Republicans in the Congress.

As you may have seen in dday’s excellent House Races Roundup, California’s 24th district is on the map for Democrats this year.  The 24th, spanning most of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, has gotten some attention partly because of the turnout numbers for Democrats in the district (R 78,422-D 82,293 in an R+5 district!), and partly because the district itself is getting bluer and bluer.  In fact, Ventura County–a longtime bellwether county that has voted for the eventual presidential winner in every contest but one since 1920–just recently flipped from red to blue in overall voter registration figures, flipping by over 6,000 voters since April of last year.  It’s also worth noting that decline-to-state voters in Ventura county and in the 24th district are up by huge margins compared to the state as a whole–and most of them are defecting from the Republican ranks.

In short, this district is fed up with Republican rule, even if many voters still need a push to show them that there are socially progressive and economically responsible Democrats to lead the way to a better future for the 24th and for the nation as a whole.

Fortunately, Mary is the progressive leader who can provide that push.  Her bio says it all: as a successful small business owner, she can connect with voters here on issues of fiscal responsibility, work ethic and personal accountability.  As a stalwart figure in the local community–she is founder and host of the Ventura County Speaker Series, Commissioner and Chair of the Ventura County Commission for Women, and trustee of the Community Foundation of Oak Park–she has the connections and the obvious civic spirit to demonstrate her commitment to making our local district a better place.  And as an uncompromising progressive, her record speaks for itself: longtime advocacy for end the occupation of Iraq; membership in the ACLU, the Sierra Club and Americans United for Separation of Church and State as well as the Progressive, Environmental and Women’s Caucuses of the CDP; founder of the Ventura County chapter of the PDA; founding steering committee member of Democrats for Kerry; and much more.  Mary has what it takes to show the voters of the 24th district that progressive is the new black, that Democrats are tough and ready to take on the challenges facing Southern California and the country.

And the campaign is starting to heat up.  As dday noted, on Tuesday Mary had an op-ed in the Ventura County Star slamming Elton Gallegly for his rubber-stamp approval of the Bush Administration’s debt-fueled, irresponsible tax policy:

The congressman plays a numbers game with the people’s money, while distorting history and facts. He feigns compassion for the nation’s middle class and poor while protecting tax loopholes for megamillionaires and the well-connected few.

Gallegly’s tax policy is inconsistent and unsound because it is too simplistic and relies upon the discredited notion of supply-side economics. The only thing that trickles down is massive debt to those least able to pay….

The Democrats are doing the right thing in allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire. The tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 clearly favored those at the highest rungs on the economic ladder. The rising tide of President Bush’s economy managed to lift the yachts, but failed to lift other boats in the harbor. His claim that the tax hike would result in an average increase of $3,331 per California taxpayer is correct, but fails to point out that there is no increase in taxes for anyone in California earning less than $200,000 a year under this same proposal.

Instead of playing on people’s fears and painting a false picture of how the current budget proposal would raise taxes on the poor and elderly, Gallegly would better serve this district if he started telling the whole truth and started looking out for the other 91 percent of his constituents.

This sort of honest, tough talk is exactly why I’m proud to say that the Progressive Democrats of America have strongly endorsed Mary Pallant:

On the evening of March 3, PDA’s Ventura County Chapter overwhelmingly endorsed Mary Pallant as candidate for California’s 24th Congressional District. Mary stated “I am proud to call myself a Progressive Democrat, proud of this endorsement and very proud to be a part of this national movement.”   [snip]

Mary, who has also been endorsed by PDLA and PD/Santa Monica Mountains, has said, “I am proud to call myself a Progressive Democrat without being an apologist for a tradition consistent with the life, the works and the convictions of John F. Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, and Senator Paul Wellstone.” Another fan is PDA’s own Jeff Cohen, who stated, “I’ve rarely come across a community leader as talented, knowledgeable and public-spirited as Mary Pallant. I heartily endorse Mary Pallant for Congress.”

Mary is also doing the rounds of local radio interviews–look for a post with more info on her radio interview schedule in the coming days.

If you live in or near the 24th District and can help out, please help us make the dream of turning our beautiful district blue by volunteering for the campaign.  And of course, ActBlue donations are always welcome.

Mary will see many of you in San Jose this weekend–and you’ll be seeing more of both of us on the blogs in the coming weeks and months.  Let’s make Gallegly’s rubber-stamp Republicanism a thing of the past.