NUHW endorses Bernie Sanders for president of the United States
California Pacific Medical Center
Thank you to the nearly two hundred elected rank-and-file leaders of NUHW for a successful 2015 Leadership Conference!
(See the slideshow below.)
Our theme this year was Raising Our Voices — taking our message and our issues to the people through the political process, through the media, and through union actions in our facilities and on the streets. We heard from members about successful actions they’ve taken over the past year at Corizon Health, Kaiser Permanente, Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, and San Francisco Nursing Center.
We also voted to endorse Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for president of the United States. Sanders’ message of reversing economic inequalities; his support for a single-payer health care system, Medicare for All; and his stance of holding HMOs like Kaiser Permanente accountable for failing to comply with mental health parity laws, resonated with NUHW members.
“As a democratic, member-led union, I am grateful for the support of the National Union of Healthcare Workers,” said Sanders. “With their support and the support of hundreds of thousands of union members across the country, we are building a political revolution that will transform American politics.”
Click here to read the full press release at BernieSanders.com. Click here to see the story in the International Business Times. Click here to see Senator Sanders’ video address to NUHW leaders.
“We’ve had a great relationship with Sen. Sanders for years,” said NUHW President Sal Rosselli. “He’s the real thing. He’s been standing up for working Americans for decades. But no president can go it alone; it will take a bottom-up, grassroots movement to change the direction of our country. NUHW is proud to be part of that movement.”
The vote was the culmination of a three-month, bottom-up, democratic process. The union’s Executive Board, consisting of elected rank-and-file members, sent questionnaires to every Republican and Democratic candidate. Union stewards reviewed the questionnaires and discussed the election at monthly steward council meetings at each NUHW-represented hospital, clinic, and nursing home, and discussed the candidates with their constituent members in each facility. And finally, on October 10, leaders from throughout the union gathered in Pasadena to cast their ballots.
Senator Sanders won 72% of the vote, while Hillary Clinton garnered 17 percent. Eighty-six percent voted not to endorse a Republican candidate.
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