Hey Governor Christie, Punch My Face Too!

"At the national level, who deserves a punch in the face?” CNN's Jake Tapper asked New Jersey governor Chris Christie during an interview. The question was a callback, he said, to Christie's affinity for saying during his first term that "you can either sidle up to [bullies] or you can punch them in the face."

"The national teachers union, who's already endorsed Hillary Clinton, 16, 17 months before the election," Christie replied.

Speaking of one of the two large national teachers unions the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Christie said that the AFT was “not for education for our children. They’re for greater membership, greater benefits, greater pay for their members. And they are the single most destructive force in public education in America.”

Russ Walsh, a New Jersey teacher and blogger observed that both Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers and Lily Eskelson Garcia of the National Education Association are women. Russ said, "I don’t think even a Republican candidate for president could get away with punching a woman in the face. Belittling them, yes. Berating them, yes. Taking away the choice of what they do with their bodies, yes. But not striking a woman, especially with a Hillary running on the Democratic side.

So, taking all this into consideration, he said he would like to step up and offer Christie his face to punch.

As a Registered Nurse, as a member of the organizing committee and the first president of AFT Local 5149, Backus Federation of Nurses, and now as Executive Vice President of AFT Connecticut, I stand with Russ in his defense of teachers and other education personal. AFT represents 1.6 million dedicated individuals in education, healthcare, and public service. People who have devoted their lives to educating, healing and serving their communities. 

Before I became an AFT member I had no voice. If I spoke up against poor staffing or poor practices at the hospital I would be fired. The same is true for our teachers and other education professionals and public service workers
So if Christie is willing to punch a teacher in the face, he'll have to be willing to punch a nurse in the face also.
Then he'll only have 1.6 million faces to go.
 
Solidarity brother Russ. 

Remembering the Community in Community Hospitals

"Hartford Healthcare has forgotten that "community" is in our name."

So said one of the speakers at the community forum yesterday. 

Windham Community Memorial Hospital is a small rural community hospital in eastern Connecticut serving a large geographical area that had historically been economically depressed.

As a result it is not a rich hospital. 

About 6 years ago it was taken over by Hartford Healthcare, a large not for profit system. Until that time, the hospital struggled to balance the books but did so through good stuardship of both union and management. 

Now, the hospital is losing money. 

How can that be?

At both the round table discussion Thursday night and the forum Friday, we heard stories from staff, doctors, patients and community of profitable services being shifted from Windham to Hartford, thus diverting profit and creating the illusion that services were no longer needed due to low volume. 

What Hartford Hospital did not count on was a community that would fight back and a legislative team and a union that would stand with them. 

You can help

Please click on this link and sign our petition to save our services. 

You will be sending a message to Hartford Healthcare and all the "healthcare systems" to put Patients Before Profits. 

Kicking it old school with Ed Leavy

My AFT Connecticut union brother Ed Leavy in an amazing radio interview on the importance of teaching labor history. The wisdom and perspective he brings to the table is incredibly important. He reminds us that people not only fought for labor rights, some died for them.
We are lucky to have Ed serve as AFT Connecticut Secretary Treasurer.
Please listen

Happy aniversay Michelle

Dear Michelle,

40 years ago today, you said yes and we were married.

Why you said yes to me and why you have put up with me for so many years is one of the great mysteries of my life.
Whatever the reason, I am grateful.

It has not always been easy has it?
We have had our struggles and times when each of us wondered if we had made the right decision, but we have also had our struggles that we got through only because we were together and leaned on each other for support.
And we have have wonderful times together, times when it truly feels like a fairy tale.

I guess that’s what a life together brings.

We support each other’s dreams.

When you went back to school I was there for you and when I did the same you returned the favor. You tolerate the time I spend on union work because you share my passion for the movement and you understand it gives me fulfillment.

I guess that’s what makes us work.
First and foremost, we want each other to be happy.

I remember first noticing you in high school, standing near your locker, all 5 foot of you with your long blond hair and the big brown eyes.

It feels like yesterday.

Happy anniversary, I love you.

Can I get a High Five?

I received an email yesterday that the Mansfield town council had passed a resolution asking Hartford Healthcare to maintain it's critical care unit at Windham Hospital.
I was thrilled!
I ran out to Anna, one of the office staff and showed her.
I know it is a result of the work done after Hartford's announcement that they would be closing services and the response of the legislators, our members and the community.
Nearly one month ago, State Senator Mea Flexer contacted me about having a press conference with legislators on this issue.
What followed was remarkable.
Within a week we participated in a press conference with several area legislators and the union presidents from the hospital.
That was soon followed by a meeting at the union office in Willimantic with area legislators and representatives from our federal legislator's offices.
We had overflow crowds of union members at both events.
On the 16th, at the monthly Willimantic street festival, hospital union members collected over a thousand signatures of support.  That petition is now online.
Shortly after all this, the hospital agreed to bargain over the changes.

Collective action works!

The reason I wanted to tell Anna is because she, and so many others in this office were critical in pulling it off.
We had discussions about what to do (stickers, robocalls, petitions, tables at the street festivals, staff coverage, etc, and then I thought, how am I going to get it all done?)
Then I realized, all I had to do was go back to my office and stay out of the way.  Occasionally one of the staff would come in and ask if this was what we were looking for on the petition, or the stickers or such, but THEY were the one's who got it done.

When I showed Anna the resolution she thought it was great but also thought, I don't know, like......
That's kinda what we do here John.

Isn't that the case so often?
The people who "actually get it done" feel like "no big deal, its what we do."
Except...
It is a big deal.

I was reminded of this in a you tube video I watched on Face Book last night.
Its a parody of a sports center show, but instead of athletes getting all the attention, its about teachers.
I remember as a nurse saying we should high five each other when we got a difficult IV start, its the same idea.

So how about it?
Can I get a high five for those who "get it done."
Maybe we can start with the teachers, who will be soon enough back in the schools, setting up their classrooms, often on their own time and often decorating out of their own pockets because.......

"Its what they do."
High Five!