NEW YORK NURSE: March 2011
by Robin Wood
Lorraine Seidel, director of NYSNA’s Economic and General Welfare Program, and Barbara Crane, National Federation of Nurses president and NYSNA member, joined thousands of workers in Madison, WI, on Feb. 22 protesting a proposal by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to strip collective bargaining rights from many of the state’s public employees.
“This is one of the most historic moments for labor in our lifetimes,” said Seidel. Assaults like these in Wisconsin, Ohio and around the nation are threatening the right to have an effective union and, therefore, the right to have a voice in workplace conditions. Labor’s responsive efforts to ensure collective bargaining will continue to be a right in the United States are galvanizing workers to come out and stand together, Seidel said.
“THIS is what solidarity looks like: the people on the ground, sleeping in the capitols and living at the demonstrations are the members, their families, their communities and their colleagues,” Seidel said. “That is the wonderful thing about what is happening; this is a movement driven by the members themselves.”