“It\'s time for Wall Street to start paying what all the rest of us pay,” Karen Higgins, RN, told a cheering crowd, many wearing red nurse scrubs and green Robin Hood caps. Higgins, who works as a registered nurse in Boston, is co-president of National Nurses United, the country’s largest registered nurses’ union, which organized the rally, held in Chicago on Friday.
“I\'ve been a nurse for 38 years and I have never seen our communities in such disarray and in such suffering as I have in the last couple of years,” said Deborah Burger, RN, and NNU co-president. “They got us into this mess and they have the money to bail us out.”
Almost a quarter of the nation’s GDP – close to $4 trillion – sits in corporate coffers, the largest cash hoard in U.S. history, the union said.
“We are here to protest all the people that are taking all the money out of our economy,” said Jean Ross, an RN from Minnesota and co-president of NNU. “We the 99 percent know what it’s about. We set an alarm. We work for a living. We don\'t sit by a swimming pool and wait for our dividends to come in.”
More than 100 organizations of community, environmental, labor, and health groups from around the world endorsed the event.
RoseAnn DeMoro, NNU’s executive director, thanked everyone for being there and gave a special shout-out to Occupy protesters.
“To all the community groups, the political groups, the non-profit groups that came out to support us -- bless you,” DeMoro said. “It’s your voices that are going to make a difference in this country.”
Also speaking at the rally was Tom Hayden, student activist during Chicago\'s 1968 protests. The rally ended with a performance by music legend Morello, who played with bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, and is also known for his acoustic music as The Nightwatchman.
For more information
View photos and more information on the National Nurses United website
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“It\’s time for Wall Street to start paying what all the rest of us pay,” Karen Higgins, RN, told a cheering crowd, many wearing red nurse scrubs and green Robin Hood caps. Higgins, who works as a registered nurse in Boston, is co-president of National Nurses United, the country’s largest registered nurses’ union, which organized the rally, held in Chicago on Friday.
“I\’ve been a nurse for 38 years and I have never seen our communities in such disarray and in such suffering as I have in the last couple of years,” said Deborah Burger, RN, and NNU co-president. “They got us into this mess and they have the money to bail us out.”
Almost a quarter of the nation’s GDP – close to $4 trillion – sits in corporate coffers, the largest cash hoard in U.S. history, the union said.
“We are here to protest all the people that are taking all the money out of our economy,” said Jean Ross, an RN from Minnesota and co-president of NNU. “We the 99 percent know what it’s about. We set an alarm. We work for a living. We don\’t sit by a swimming pool and wait for our dividends to come in.”
More than 100 organizations of community, environmental, labor, and health groups from around the world endorsed the event.
RoseAnn DeMoro, NNU’s executive director, thanked everyone for being there and gave a special shout-out to Occupy protesters.
“To all the community groups, the political groups, the non-profit groups that came out to support us — bless you,” DeMoro said. “It’s your voices that are going to make a difference in this country.”
Also speaking at the rally was Tom Hayden, student activist during Chicago\’s 1968 protests. The rally ended with a performance by music legend Morello, who played with bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, and is also known for his acoustic music as The Nightwatchman.
For more information
View photos and more information on the National Nurses United website