Nurses Plan Multi-State Protest Over Working Conditions In COVID-19 Wards

From the Florida Phoenix:

By Issac Morgan

August 4, 2020

Thousands of registered nurses across the country will participate in more than 200 protests Wednesday at hospitals in at least 16 states — including eight in Florida — advocating for safer working conditions to combat COVID-19 transmission.

National Nurses United, representing registered nurses, made the announcement Tuesday through a press release and said the protests will take place inside and outside hospital facilities.

The Florida protests will target facilities in Tampa, Sanford, Sarasota, Port Charlotte, Miami, and Brooksville.

According to the union, nurses are demanding that employers “protect nurses, other health care workers, and patients by following proper infection control practices, which include providing optimal personal protective equipment and a safe workload of patients.”

For months, the union has been pushing the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to establish an emergency temporary standard for infectious diseases that would cover workplace protections for health care workers.

OSHA is authorized “to set emergency temporary standards that take effect immediately and are in effect until superseded by a permanent standard,” according to its website. So far, federal officials have not acted on the emergency order.

Previous Florida Phoenix reports have documented the plight of nurses battling COVID-19 on the front lines. Some Florida nurses have even quit jobs, alleging that hospitals refused to provide adequate staff to care for COVID patients.

A survey of more than 21,200 union and non-union nurses across the United States showed that “only 24 percent of nurses think their employer is providing a safe workplace.”

This story was originally published by the Florida Phoenix. For more stories from the Florida Phoenix, visit FloridaPhoenix.com.