Nurses from Four Continents Call on Obama, Other World Leaders for Tax on Wall Street

Nurses from Four Continents to Step Up Call Nov. 3 on President Obama, Other World Leaders for Tax on Wall Street

Joined by AFL-CIO, Occupy Wall Street participants, community groups in major actions at G-20 Summit in France, Washington, and West Coast

National Nurses United, joined by the AFL-CIO and community activists, including participants from the Occupy Wall Street movement, will protest outside the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Nov. 3 to press President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for a meaningful financial transaction tax (FTT) to help heal the U.S. and join the growing global movement for an FTT.

On that same day, nurses from four continents, including a delegation from NNU, will be on hand at the opening of the G-20 summit of world leaders in France to demonstrate how to “inject an FTT” to resuscitate the ailing global economy.

NNU, the largest U.S. professional association and union of nurses, will also join with actor and Oxfam Ambassador Bill Nighy, the global union federation Public Services International, International Trade Union Confederation, and World Wildlife Fund at a press conference in Cannes to call for a global FTT, which is expected to be on the summit agenda. FTT measures have found support in numerous nations.

Protests are also planned in Los Angeles and San Francisco as part of the international day of action.

November 3 actions:
■ G-20 Summit: 9:45 a.m., Salon Palm, Casino Palm Beach, Place Franklin Roosevelt - Pointe de la Croisette, Cannes, France (location of G20 media accreditation centre)
■ Washington, D.C.: Rally, Lafayette Square, 11:30 a.m., followed by march to U.S. Treasury Department. Nurses head to Capitol Hill to lobby Congress at 3 p.m.
■ Los Angeles: March from OccupyLA site, 11 a.m., First and Main, rally, plaza adjacent to U.S. Bank, W. 633 5th St.
■ San Francisco: March 11 a.m., from 101 Market, across from the Federal Reserve Bank, rally at 12 noon, Wells Fargo bank headquarters, 464 California St.

“It is long past time for Secretary Geithner and President Obama to get on board with other world leaders in supporting this common-sense approach to raise badly needed revenues to help fund the critical programs we need to revive the U.S. and other global economies,” said NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro, who will speak at the G-20 press conference in Cannes.

NNU has been campaigning since early spring for an FTT, essentially a sales tax on trades of stocks, bonds, derivatives, and other financial transactions mainly targeting the big banks and investment firms whose reckless activities caused the current economic crisis. As much as $350 billion annually could be raised by a meaningful FTT, with the revenues available for such needs as good jobs, healthcare for all, and funding for quality public education.

The Obama administration has been an obstacle for the Wall Street tax, and in the face of a growing international demand for other nations, especially in Europe, to adopt their own FTT, Geithner has lobbied European finance ministers to oppose the FTT.

U.S. nurses see an emergency in the effects of enduring economic hardship in their communities, as they describe a profound and broad decline in the health status of the U.S. population. Recent data linking home foreclosures in four major U.S. states to a range of serious illnesses, from stress and deprivation, underscore nurse concern. Others are sounding an alarm in the wake of the economic crisis and social fallout.

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