Press Releases
MI AFL-CIO Joins MI Nurses’ Fight to Make Wall Street Pay to Heal Main Street
10.04.2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from The Michigan Nurses Association
Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011
Contact: Dawn Kettinger, (517) 614-6810, dawn@progressmichigan.org
MI AFL-CIO Joins MI Nurses’ Fight to Make Wall Street Pay to Heal Main Street
Convention vote unites labor groups in demanding new priorities from politicians
DETROIT – Members of the Michigan AFL-CIO voted at their annual convention today to support the Michigan Nurses Association’s Main Street Contract for the American People, creating a unified front in the fight against destructive corporate greed and political attacks targeting our state’s working men and women.
“The AFL-CIO is proud to join the Michigan Nurses Association in sending a message to Wall Street banks and rich CEOs: your days of living large off the sweat and tears of working men and women are over,” said Karla Swift, newly elected president of the Michigan AFL-CIO, which is affiliated with unions that represent roughly 350,000 active members and nearly as many retirees. “While corporate profits hit record highs, Michigan’s families are still struggling because politicians sold out the middle class. It’s time to put workers first and make Wall Street pay to fix the damage it’s done."
The Michigan Nurses Association’s Main Street Contract campaign, in conjunction with National Nurses United, calls for a reversal of national priorities and a federal tax on Wall Street financial transactions to fund programs that will create good-paying jobs and rebuild our communities. A sales tax of less than 1 percent on major Wall Street financial activity, such as billion-dollar gambling on dividends and futures, would raise hundreds of billions of dollars.
The nurses launched their campaign with events around the state on Sept. 1 and asked each member of Michigan’s congressional delegation to pledge support for the tax and a Main Street Contract for the American People. The contract calls for:
Jobs at living wages to reinvest in America.
Equal access to quality, public education.
Guaranteed health care with a single standard of care.
A secure retirement with the ability to retire in dignity.
Good housing and protection from hunger.
A safe and healthy environment.
A just taxation system where corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share.
“MNA is energized by this showing of solidarity among our AFL-CIO brothers and sisters and support from President Karla Swift,” said John Karebian, executive director of the Michigan Nurses Association. “Nurses are passionate about the Main Street Contract because they see the damage that our economy has done close up, every day, in their patients’ lives. Unemployment, lack of health care, homelessness – none of these deep wounds will heal with Band-Aids. Working men and women have to work together to hold politicians accountable and force Wall Street to give back some of the money they’ve taken from the middle class so we can rebuild our state.”
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The Michigan Nurses Association, www.minurses.org, represents 10,000 registered nurses across the state, advocating for them and their patients. Visit fightformainstreet.orgfor more information on their Michigan Main Street Campaign.
