A Better Life for Us, Our Patients, and Our Communities

EVERY PERSON in America deserves the freedom to thrive, fueled by opportunity, justice, and a voice in our democracy. That is what the AFT fights for. Whether we work in healthcare, public service, or education, we strive for a better life for all. That’s what binds us together.

This is about values, but also about solutions that make those values real. That’s why the AFT offers up real solutions—and fights for them: bargaining living wages, helping wipe out student debt, and fighting for adequate staffing through our Code Red campaigns so patients get the care they deserve.

With Code Red, we’re fighting the love fest corporations have with profits—like those in the healthcare industry who put their profits over patients’ needs. Financialization and consolidation are sweeping the healthcare sector. Staffing is being reduced and workplace violence is increasing. Private equity’s intrusion into the healthcare sector intensifies hospitals’ cuts to services and staffing, often while plundering hospitals’ assets.

Code Red engages our members and community allies in the fight for high-quality care. We have created campaigns across the country. And we’re winning. The Oregon Nurses Association and Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals partnered to win a historic staffing law that requires that all job classifications in acute care settings have staffing dialogues with management and set staffing ratios. The law has robust penalties for noncompliance.

It’s the best healthcare staffing law in the nation.

AFT Connecticut achieved a major staffing victory with a law ensuring bedside nurses can refuse unsafe assignments. They also have staffing committees that approve staffing plans, and where the nurses have the majority vote. Likewise, the Washington State Nurses Association won safe staffing legislation that tightens regulatory control over staffing conditions and gives nurses new power to ensure safe staffing levels.

These laws are transformative. They will help with patient safety and staff retention. But more must be done. We’re working to recruit youth for the four million open healthcare jobs our country will have by 2031. Creating pathways from high school to jobs of today and tomorrow. In this issue you’ll read about a high school in a hospital in Ohio. Through a partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies, our union is helping spread that model of experiential learning across the country—starting with the Northwell School of Health Sciences in Queens, New York, where students will gain real-world experience in a wide range of healthcare jobs.

These real solutions translate to better care for patients and a stronger voice for you in your profession. This is our unwavering North Star.

Even as we fight back against the staffing crisis, we also must fight forward for a better future. That is why we engage in politics, as a means to secure the future we need. So let’s look at what the Biden administration has actually done: it got us through COVID-19, created 14 million new jobs, and is bringing inflation down. The US economy is growing faster than any other large economy. And this administration is committed to quality healthcare for all—along with protecting reproductive rights and health professionals’ autonomy. It has already increased the number of people with health insurance to the highest level in our history, championed legislation to reduce burnout and address the mental health crisis among healthcare professionals, helped rural hospitals stay open, and empowered Medicare to reduce prescription drug costs.

We can see who has our backs, who cares about healthcare and healthcare workers. The Biden administration is fighting for us and our patients—and is pledging to do more. And we need to see more at the bedside. That starts with partners, and a partner in the White House to fight private equity overtaking healthcare, to stop hospital closures, and to invest in safe staffing.

Healthcare is a huge issue for voters, so your voice is crucial. A recent Gallup poll shows that voters trust healthcare professionals more than workers in other professions. But in this environment, with so much disinformation and distrust, we need to get out the facts and ultimately get out the vote. We know from our member outreach that AFT members prefer President Biden to Donald Trump by strong margins, but the only poll that really matters is Election Day.

Thank you for everything you do day in and day out. Together we will realize the freedom of everyone to thrive.

[Photo: AFT]