News

What unions do

In AFT President Randi Weingarten’s latest New York Times column, she describes what it is exactly that unions do. Though unions are the most popular they have been in decades, anti-union sentiment still thrives in red states and across the nation. “Several years ago, The Atlantic ran a story whose headline made even me, a labor leader, scratch my head: ‘Union Membership: Very Sexy,’” Weingarten writes in the column. “The gist was that higher wages, health benefits and job security—all associated with union membership—boost one’s chances of getting married. Belonging to a union doesn’t actually guarantee happily ever after, but it does help working people have a better life in the here and now.” Click through to read the full column.

WFNHP Statement on Employer Mandated COVID Vaccinations for Healthcare Workers

August 20, 2021 The COVID-19 pandemic has been a largely unmitigated disaster. More than half a million Americans have died as a result of the virus. Through it all, nurses, nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, other healthcare professionals, and the various staff that keep our hospitals running have been worked to the bone. Without the efforts of these workers, including the workers who we represent across the state of Wisconsin, many more would have tragically lost their lives. As if healthcare workers weren’t a vital part of society before, the debt they are owed after what they’ve struggled through over the past year and a half is vast. Despite the service of these workers to the communities in which they live and beyond, the healthcare corporations that they are employed by have not done enough to reciprocate these efforts. At several junctures over the course of the pandemic, employers have refused to offer bonuses for essential workers, failed to provide ample Personal Protective Equipment, failed to provide proper medical equipment, failed to provide proper staffing, and failed to produce appropriately safe working conditions. To sum it up, corporate healthcare employers have failed their workers and the people to whom they provide care. While the frontlines were starved for support, it was the bottom lines that received the reinforcements. This behavior isn’t new on the part of these corporations, but the stark differences between their words and their actions has never been more clear than now. MORE

WFNHP Fall 2020 General Election Endorsements

Hazard pay, paid quarantine leave, and covered medical costs are on your ballot. Vote for the people who have your back. It’s been about 200 days since the Wisconsin legislature passed a bill or held a vote on any legislation. Meanwhile, almost 2,000 Wisconsinites have died from COVID-19. You’ve been overworked every day of this pandemic, and things just keep getting worse. These candidates have affirmed their support for your right to hazard pay, paid leave, and covered medical costs. We urge you to support them because they support you.

WFNHP Response to the Tragic Shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha, WI Police

Black Lives Matter. We have made statements and demanded justice in the past regarding the merciless killings of Black people. Thankfully, Jacob Blake is still among the living, albeit forever changed. It is crucial in this moment to listen, learn, and lift up the voices of those directly impacted by our unjust systems. Then, we must all act. Rather than making yet another statement, we are sharing the words of several Black-led groups working in the struggle to win justice and basic human rights, as well as suggestions for meaningful actions you can take right now. Support them. Listen to them. In the labor movement, we call it “collective bargaining” when directly affected people get their say in how their institutions should function. This is a concept we, as a union, should continue to champion in this scenario.

WFNHP puts Ascension Wisconsin on notice that they’re failing our nurses and health professionals – and patients.

On 12/2/20, our union sent a letter to high level corporate executives at Ascension Wisconsin and to the local administration of St. Francis Hospital outlining the ways in which the disrespect of frontline staff and their union have directly contributed to the incredibly difficult working conditions in the hospital. WFNHP respectfully demanded the immediate implementation of a paid leave program for all frontline workers to deal with COVID-19 related illness; hazard pay for all healthcare workers in their employ; and a genuinely collaborative approach to stabilizing the staffing crisis in the hospital. We laid out the timeline of events since the beginning of the pandemic that clearly demonstrate our repeated attempts to protect and respect our nurses and health professionals and the ways in which we attempted to bring about concerning issues related to staffing and quality care between March and November of this year. MORE

WFNHP Statement on Black Lives Matter

Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, Local 5000, AFT, AFL, CIO Statement on Black Lives Matter

WFNHP stands in absolute solidarity with our community seeking justice for the countless and senseless deaths of Black people across the world. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery are the latest painful symptoms of the underlying condition of systemic racism in America. The institutions in our country that are supposed to protect and serve, deliver justice, and keep us healthy have failed the Black and Brown communities time and again because they were never truly designed to work for those communities.

AFT Members on the Frontlines

AFT nurses, healthcare professionals, public employees, teachers, school staff and many others are on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Friday, November 1, 2019, from 5:00-9:00 PM we will be holding our Annual Fall Membership/Dinner Meeting and Election of Local 5000 Officers at Klemmer's Banquet Center, 10401 W. Oklahoma Ave. in West Allis.

Election: Voting will take place from 5:30-7:30 PM at Klemmer's Banquet Center (Maryland Room). Members can stop by any time during these hours to cast their ballot. You do not have to attend the dinner meeting in order to vote.

Dinner Meeting: For a $5.00 registration fee, members will enjoy a delicious family style dinner including beef pot roast, baked chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables, salad, rolls and coffee, tea or milk to drink. (A cash bar will also be available.) Pre-registration is required by October 23, 2019.

When healthcare workers show up to work, they shouldn’t have to worry about whether a patient is going to hurt them. Violence should never be a part of the job.

Workplace violence has touched the lives of many of our members. One of them, Patricia "Patt" Moon-Updike, RN, will be testifying before the U. S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Workplace Protections at the hearing entitled "Caring for Our Caregivers: Protecting Health Care and social Service Workers from Workplace Violence" this Wednesday, Febrary 27, 2019, in Washington, D.C., to tell her story.

Community Outrage Causes Ascension to Declare a "Pause" in Closing St. Joe's Inpatient Units

On April 11^th we notified our members of our Union’s great concern regarding Ascension’s proposal to eliminate medical and surgical inpatient units at St. Joe’s Hospital and, more broadly, rumors of other cuts. Because of our concerns, we held meetings with Mayor Barrett and other elected officials, and also joined in the creation of a broad based coalition led by some amazing northside community organizations along with Citizen Action of Wisconsin. Nate Gilliam, our organizer, was also part of a meeting with St. Joe’s administration where the planned changes were aggressively challenged.

We knew that by joining together with the community to stand up and preserve quality jobs and health services we would be stronger and have a greater chance to fight back against negative changes from Ascension. Our coalition--Save St. Joe’s--immediately put up an online petition, and now has a dedicated website. There is no question we got their attention.