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Why It Matters:
Nurses at the community hospital say that since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve been overwhelmed with patient numbers, leading to high rates of burnout among staff and negative impact on patient care. This is the issue that lies at the core of HNA’s unfair labor practice strike after months of failed contract negotiations with management.

“We just want the management to bargain with us. They’re not bargaining in good faith. It’s their way or the highway, and that’s not bargaining,” Paulette Vasu, HNA treasurer and a labor and delivery nurse at Kapiolani, said.

Students from union families applying for or currently attending college, university, technical or trade school also can apply for a Union Plus Scholarship. Scholarship awards range from $500 to $4,000.

Joanna Escalante (left) is a California School Employees Association (CSEA) member and a candidate for a master’s in sociology. Escalante hopes to become an instructor at the community college where she currently serves as an administrative assistant. She has a special interest and background in working with students who have experienced foster care and/or homelessness. Baylor Sampson (center) grew up in a union family. His father has been an Ironworkers member in Ohio for more than 30 years. Sampson is majoring in computer science with the goal of working in cybersecurity and protecting people like his grandparents, who endured financial strain after an online security breach. Sampson’s dedication to his work inspired him to be passionate about his own educational path. Chareese Miller (right), a competitive soccer player and an exercise science major, has an ultimate goal. It is to become a physical therapist. Her mother is an AFGEmember in Atlanta. Miller said her desire to help others stems from her mother’s AFGE involvement as a steward and local vice president.

Current and retired union members, their spouses and their dependent children are eligible to apply for a Union Plus Scholarship. Applications are due Jan. 31 by noon ET. Learn more and apply at unionplus.org/scholarship

Today we reflect on the life and lasting legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. King actively worked to bridge the modern civil rights and labor movements that shared, he said, "a unity of purpose." In his 1961 speech to the AFL-CIO's fourth convention, he said:

"Our needs are identical with labor’s needs, decent wages, fair working conditions,
livable housing, old age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children and respect in the community.”

We are proud to honor, celebrate and continue to pursue Dr. King's vision of a better world for working people, today and every day. Happy MLK Day.

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