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Orange County UNAC/UHCP Members Rally for Wisconsin

February 2011

Orange County Rally for Wisconsin, February 24, 2011

UNAC/UHCP Member Veronica Rosales, RN, at Orange County Candlelight Vigil for Wisconsin, February 24, 2011

On Thursday, February 24, several UNAC/UHCP members, including Veronica Rosales, RN, from Kaiser Baldwin Park, pictured to the right, took part in the Orange County Labor Federation’s candlelight vigil in support of the Wisconsin workers at the Santa Ana State Office Building.

The right for workers to bargain collectively over their wages, benefits and working conditions is a basic right that helps keep our workplaces and our country democratic, and a right for which Americans have struggled and even died. That basic right is the very foundation of the Labor Movement. It’s the reason we’re all joined in UNAC/UHCP, and the reason we’re able to give our patients the best care possible and support our families while doing it. That right is under direct attack in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin’s Governor Walker has introduced a bill that would eliminate collective bargaining rights as we know them for most public employees. Governor Walker’s attack is the knife’s edge of a united effort to gut the entire Labor Movement. When collective bargaining rights for unionized employees are attacked anywhere, it is an attack on all of us. At least eight more states are considering proposals similar to Walker’s—Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nebraska and Tennessee. There is no indication that the attack will limit itself to public employee unions.

What would the elimination of collective bargaining rights mean for health care professionals? We would no longer have the right to advocate for quality patient care or workplace safety, scheduling, seniority, health benefits and pension at the bargaining table. That is why UNAC/UHCP is standing with our Wisconsin brothers and sisters wherever we can.