Posted on 08/10/2015 3:07:26 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
National Nurses United gives Bernie Sanders his first national union endorsement — and Keystone was the deciding factor.
OAKLAND, California — Bernie Sanders earned the endorsement of National Nurses United after the membership of the nation’s largest nurses union voted to back him over his Democratic rivals, leaders of the union announced at their headquarters here Monday.
The union represents more than 185,000 members. Ninety percent of them are women. Working women are a major target for Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton — and she’s already successfully wooed the endorsement of another huge union representing thousands of working women, the AFT. Clinton competed with Sanders as well as other Democratic candidates for the National Nurses United endorsement, filling out a questionnaire for the group and meeting with a member of its senior leadership at an AFL-CIO–sponsored Q&A session with candidates earlier this year. Sanders was the only candidate to rate 100% in the union’s survey.
A senior official at the nurses union said members and leadership picked Sanders in part due to Clinton’s refusal to take a position on the Keystone XL pipeline.
“He understands the health effects of climate change,” Charles Idelson, communications director for National Nurses United, told BuzzFeed News in an interview ahead of the endorsement formal announcement. “We’re opposed the Keystone pipeline because of health impacts,” he added, citing the potential for “toxic spills” from the hundreds of miles of proposed oil pipeline.
Sanders’ support for single-payer health care and his opposition to President Obama’s trade proposals also played well with the union’s leadership, Idelson said.
Results of an internal vote among National Nurses United members showed Sanders won the “overwhelming” support of the membership, Idelson said. Leadership was also impressed by the Vermont senator, who has been a close supporter of organized labor for his decades-long political career. The endorsement is Sanders’ first from a national union as a presidential candidate.
The endorsement means Sanders will be able to rely on grassroots support from the nurses on the ground in early primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire, where the union has thousands of members.
The endorsement is not expected to bring Sanders a cash windfall however.
“Our engagement with politics is less money than it is political activism,” Idelson said. The union will begin stumping for Sanders as early as Monday, with members scheduled to participate in an Iowa house party for Sanders hours after the endorsement was announced.
In a statement, the union’s executive director, RoseAnn DeMoro, said supporting Sanders was a no brainer for the majority-women organization she heads.
“Bernie Sanders has a proven track record of uncompromised activism and advocacy for working people, and a message that resonates with nurses, and, as we have all seen, tens of thousands of people across the country,” she said. “He can talk about our issues as well as we can talk about our issues. We are proud to stand with him in his candidacy for president today.”
HA HA!
I Love It!
“She in trouble.”
Yes she is and it will get much worse if she loses the protection afford by Democratic Privilege. If Bernie become the actual front runner Satan in a Pantsuit could end up in jail
She’s probably better off just coming out as a Socialist. It’s working for Bernie.
Poor Hill must be in a dither over this news.
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I have no doubt the “Black Lives Matter” protestors that interrupted Comrade Sanders’s rally up in Seattle this weekend were paid by the Clinton campaign. She’s reeling big time now.
This nurses union is against the health effect from the XL pipeline. I wonder how my ex-brethren in the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters will reconcile their support of the preferred Dem who will beholden to the envirowhackos?
They always seem to justify their support for those that wish to do away with projects that support a strong economy and full employment for their membership...
Free College though
I know one nurse (Mrs. C) who agrees with half of this decision, meaning she is happy they dumped HRC. OTOH, she isn’t in the union, so it is neither her circus nor her monkey.
Will Bernie live until the election?
Will Hillary? Have you seen her?
When you see the AMA and Nursing associations backing abortion, you know why medicine is in such huge trouble.
The medical industry should be educating the public, instead it thrives on sick people and abortion
So many (mostly white) stupid women (and men) supporting socialism. At least HeartBernie is an “honest” socialist if there is such a thing.
Your’re exactly right.
....In a statement, the union’s executive director, RoseAnn DeMoro, said supporting Sanders was a no brainer for the majority-women organization she heads....
No brainer is an apt term when used in relation to this bunch.
I thought the liberals, in particular liberal women, were sick to death of old white men. Bernie Sanders is an old white man, and a privileged one at that.
I am being sarcastic, of course. Women tend to lean towards being taken care of and financial security .... and if there's one thing the socialists promise it's that. Of course, it doesn't materialize but the fantasy is good, apparently.
The medical industry is using continued dependency as a business model, much like the welfare industry. The profession does not want to see people improve beyond a certain point, beyond the status quo. At sixty, I am not supposed to do any strenuous exercise (I’m racing bicycles in masters age groups).
Not good for Hillary-—This looks like a trend. Biden will step in soon.
A professional group, primarily female in membership, is endorsing a white male over a female! I applaud their freedom from gender blinders but feel that the decision point of the Keystone pipeline is singularly stupid. Oil from the Canadian oil sands will go west to the Far East as easily as south through the USofA.
However, I am sure that should a white male become the GOP candidate, the airways will be filled with disparagement from the liberal left as part of the usual ‘war on women’ meme.
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