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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Charles Idelson, 415-559-8991, Joe Jurczak, 202-974-8307, Michelle Evermore, 202-(202) 288-8561

Nurses Call on President Obama to "Stand Up" and Protect Retirement Security in State of Union Speech

Largest RN Union Releases New Video of Chicago Nurses Urging the President to Stand Up to Corporate Interests

WASHINGTON

The nation's largest union and
professional association of registered nurses today released a short,
2-minute video calling on President Obama to "stand up" to corporate
interests and for the millions of voters who elected him.

In
particular, the RNs are calling on the President to resist proposals
for reductions in Social Security and Medicare when he delivers his
State of the Union speech on Tuesday.

There
is widespread speculation that the President may endorse some of the
draconian recommendations of chairs of the deficit commission last month
that included cuts that the 160,000-member National Nurses United say
would have "a devastating effect on retirement security for nurses and
tens of millions of other Americans, especially in the heat of a
persistent recession."

NNU
is joining with other activists around the nation in calling the
President and the Congress to stand firm on Social Security and oppose
any legislative efforts to pass the deficit commission proposals in the
current legislative session.

The video, which can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/calnurses, includes footage from the President's home town Chicago, some of it filmed near his neighborhood.

It
features Chicago nurses urging the President to hold the line on his
commitment to hope and change. "We need you to stand up." Chicago RN
Dorothy Ahmad calls on the President to "stand up against any party
whose legislative agenda diminishes social security and public health
services. After a lifetime of hard work we want to retire with dignity."

"It
is time for the President to stand up and send a clear message to the
American people that they will not agree to further erode our retirement
security and standard of living," said Karen Higgins, RN, co-president
of the 160,000 member National Nurses United.

National Nurses United, with close to 185,000 members in every state, is the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in US history.

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