Ralph Nader and the WPIC Nurses’ Strike

“The United States is no longer a democracy. It is ruled by two parties which represent corporations, not people,” Ralph Nader told a packed audience at the Unitarian church in Shadyside on September 11. He said that an incumbent in the United States Congress has a 98% chance of reelection. Most Americans want a national health plan, but it hasn’t been enacted for 50 years. Most Americans opposed the invasion of Iraq without the United Nations, but Congress endorsed it. And George Bush lost the 2000 election, but the Supreme Court appointed him President.

“Bush is really a corporation posing as a human being. But the Democratic Party has become corporatized, too. No wonder so many people lose interest in politics!” Nader exclaimed. “Bush has made so many horrible mistakes that Kerry should be wiping this guy out. Instead he adopted his platforms.

“On the other hand, Dennis Kucinich’s campaign shows what Democrats expect from progressives. Kucinich had a good platform, but when he got to the convention, he was told to support Kerry and in return he got…nothing. Anti-war signs were taken from delegates.”

But looking around the church, Nader mentioned, “Although the Unitarians and Quakers have only 300,000 members, they show us what good a dedicated minority can do.” And even with all the corporate control over politicians and the media, “there is nothing like the rumble of the people, the power of an informed and mobilized citizenry.”

He believed that the most important concerns for students were tuition, which rose by 11% last year on average across the nation, and the draft. Currently 40% of US soldiers in Iraq are from the National Guard and Reserves.

Nader replied to voters who felt stuck voting for the lesser of two evils, Bush and Kerry. He said, “The lesser of two evils is still evil.” He also quoted the American Socialist Eugene Debs: “I would rather vote for something I wanted and not get it, than vote for something I didn't want and get it.”

Afterwards Nader went to a strike by the nurses at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. Richard Ressler, vice-president of the nurses’ union, said, “The hospital managers live off corporate greed and have the public bamboozled. The hospital business is a big corporation, not a humanitarian service. Quality care is not profitable for the hospital. For the past ten years they've been firing a lot of people and replacing them with little, inefficient tasks.”

As for Democrats in the city government being friends with the workers, Ressler pointed out that the city government is friends with WPIC too.

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, WPIC belongs to UPMC, which reported a profit of $112 million profit last year. Lois Cusick, president of the nurses’ union said, “The psychiatric nurses get paid 10 percent less than all the other hospitals’ [nurses].” And the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center reported that the number of nursing vacancies was 21% of the total number of WPIC nurses, three times higher than the regional average. As a result, the nurses have to work an average of three weeks of overtime a year to compensate.

The hospital management's final offer at negotiations was a 3% wage raise. The nurses rejected the contract by a 97% margin and went on strike, demanding better wages and benefits, especially for senior nurses, the Pittsburgh Business Times reported.

When Nader came to the rally, Ressler said, “As busy as Nader is, he drove to meet 11 people without any coverage. He was there in support of us. Nader is a man of the people, not a big shot. The nurses were very happy that he came. Nader said that the California nurses’ union was very large and that they’re growing, talked about the horrors of managed care, their disrespect to patients and nurses, and the importance of a national health care plan. I was extremely impressed.”

- Hal Smith studies Russian at the University of Pittsburgh, working on getting a second bachelors degree. He already has one in Economics from Bloomsburg University in Eastern Pennsylvania. Smith is a member of Students in Solidarity and hopes to get a "Solidarity" group together sometime in Pittsburgh.

* Nader Off PA Ballot
Nader has been officially removed from the PA ballot by a Commonwealth Court juge. 32,455 signatures out of 51,273 submitted by the Nader forces were invalid. Mr. Nader needed 25,697 valid signatures to get on the ballot, and in the end, had only 18,818. (Pittsburgh Indymedia)

Ralph Nader (center) with striking nurses. (Photo by Hal Smith)