US nurses show support

Thousands of nurses from National Nurses United along with other union members and allies held rallies in six cities across the country yesterday to support the nearly 2 million British workers striking in the UK.

US nurses held the actions at British consulates in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Orlando and San Francisco, and at the British Embassy in Washington, DC, to protest the conservative ruling party’s plans to cut public pensions in the United Kingdom.

Corporations in Britain, like the United States, are sitting on massive cash reserves while government officials in both nations push reductions in retirement security and other cuts.

In Washington, DC, where 200 nurses and their supporters gathered at the Embassy of the United Kingdom, Karen Higgins, an ICU nurse at the Boston Medical Center who is co-president of National Nurses United, said: “If people have to keep working with no pensions, it is hurting everyone.”

Rajini Raj, RN, agreed: “We’re here in support of the more than 2 million people striking in Great Britain today. We know an injury to one is an injury to all even if there is an ocean between us.

Jos Williams, president of the DC Central Labor Council, summed it up, saying: “Today, it is the British workers and tomorrow it is the American workers.”

National Nurses United

DC Central Labor Council

UNISON’s 30 November coverage

National Nurses United flickr site