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California nurses union plans holiday strike over PPE

californiaglobe.com

11–20 of 99 posts

Re: California nurses union plans holiday strike over PPE

#11
post #7

This can easily be solved with a tiny bit of sense. The state of California has large stockpiles. Now would be the time to distribute some. EDIT: shows the state of Hacker News readership that this is downvoted when the article states this. Furthermore, here is a second source: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/07/22/governor-newsom-announces-... hitting the downvoted button because it offends their sensibility without rea…

Citation please? I find this incredibly hard to believe.

Re: California nurses union plans holiday strike over PPE

#12
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arnold was elected in a special election after a career politician was recalled.

That is completely immaterial to the discussion

In defence of the OP, at risk of also getting downvoted :)

I think what the OP is trying to say is that it is hard to imagine a career politician instituting such a program.

Re: California nurses union plans holiday strike over PPE

#14

This is a good example of why labor unions are important and necessary. A single nurse can be ignored because of the massive power imbalance between an individual and the management collective of a large organization. Nurses banding together to create their own collective creates a level playing field for negotiations.

And note that this is not "just" for the good of nurses, although that would be a sufficient reason to do something about it (or strike if refused).

We are talking about primary caregivers during a pandemic. This labor action is good for everyone.

Re: California nurses union plans holiday strike over PPE

#15
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arnold was elected in a special election after a career politician was recalled.

That is completely immaterial to the discussion

Is it? Career politicians have political debts to be paid, which override what's best for their constituents.

Re: California nurses union plans holiday strike over PPE

#16
post #3

I can confirm the "used PPE" thing from personal experience. My partner (a nurse at a VA hospital) was given a Tupperware container with holes poked in the lid as "overnight storage" for her N95 mask and was asked to reuse it for up to a month at a time. As far as I know this is still ongoing. I know the cynical take is "you need to stop letting yourself be surprised / disappointed by this kind of thing" but we shoul…

Was the Defense Production Act successful at ramping up production of PPE? It's been 8 months since I've seen a proper N95 mask on store shelves. Hearing that someone close was going through the same thing as your partner, bringing home used masks and having to hit the black market/eBay for respirators with cartridges so they wouldn't become lightheaded when transporting patients all day was shocking. I think what's even more sad is how few tech companies opened their hearts, wallets, innovations, or resources to tackling this PPE situation.

Re: California nurses union plans holiday strike over PPE

#18
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is completely immaterial to the discussion

In defence of the OP, at risk of also getting downvoted :) I think what the OP is trying to say is that it is hard to imagine a career politician instituting such a program.

You mean, career politicians like the Bush administration, that stood up the Pandemic Response Team, that was subsequently dissolved by the Trump administration?

That kind of career politician?

Edit: Named the wrong admin, my memory was off.

Re: California nurses union plans holiday strike over PPE

#19
post #10
post #3

I can confirm the "used PPE" thing from personal experience. My partner (a nurse at a VA hospital) was given a Tupperware container with holes poked in the lid as "overnight storage" for her N95 mask and was asked to reuse it for up to a month at a time. As far as I know this is still ongoing. I know the cynical take is "you need to stop letting yourself be surprised / disappointed by this kind of thing" but we shoul…

As an outsider this is basically exactly what I would expect to happen in US healthcare.

As an American, it has been incredibly demoralizing seeing one institution after another fail miserably. I didn’t have high expectations, but oh boy did we fall way short.
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