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Thanks for giving us a better understanding of how your union sees this election. You're right; there are challenges ahead of us. - promoted from the diaries by Rosi.
Everyone knows that Governor Corzine and Loretta Weinberg lost the race for Governor and Lt. Governor on Tuesday. Ultimately, it is the residents of New Jersey who were losers, too. Because, we may have also lost any opportunity to advance health care in this state, and to challenge the narrow, false choices that too many politicians make between taxes and services. |
| For the frontline nurses and health care workers at HPAE, this was a scary loss. Instead of having fighters in the front office who respect collective bargaining rights, family-friendly programs and the need to fairly fund our hospitals, we will instead have a Governor who has already spoken against collective bargaining, against paid family leave and for arbitrary and severe budget cuts. We will have someone sitting in the Governor's Office who fails to share our values and priorities. Severe budget cuts may sound good during the campaign season. But, in the real world, they will translate into less funding for our hospitals, less care for our patients and reduced medical research so vital in finding cures and effective treatment.
As the independent candidate Chris Daggett said during the campaign, the State could fire every single state worker twice, and it still would not eliminate more than 10% of the budget deficit. Moreover, this doesn't even take into account the loss of all the services that each state worker provides.
Of course we are all concerned about property taxes. And we know the economy is bad. But what would you cut first? The teacher in your child's school? The social worker who responds to children in crisis? The healthcare worker providing immunizations in our communities? Firefighters or police? Would we de-fund our hospitals - forcing more closures, layoffs of healthcare workers and reductions in services we provide to our patients? Would we refuse federal funding that goes to medical research and education? Cuts have consequences, and our Governor must be prepared to address them openly and honestly.
In the weeks before the election we had opportunities to talk with our co-workers and neighbors about the real choices and challenges facing New Jersey and our nation. Unless we can identify the real impact of a candidate's rhetoric, we can't realistically protect our patients, our professions or health care itself. Unless we are constantly engaged in the political process, we will all pay the price - in closed hospitals, lost jobs and cuts in vital health services to our communities.
Like it or not, politics does matter. Between now and mid-January, there will be a "lame-duck" legislative session. Scores of different interest groups will be asking the legislature to vote on their initiatives before the name on the front door of the Governor's Office changes hands. We need to be heard and to mobilize. We must fight to win safe staffing, public employee rights and other legislation important to our members. Election Day might be behind us, but this is not the time to sit back and wish for good things to happen in the future
In Trenton , come January, some things will stay the same while some things will change. Senator Loretta Weinberg will still be our State Senator from Bergen County, and we were successful in returning to office almost all of the Assembly members HPAE and other labor and community groups supported. That's a good thing.
But, the fight will undoubtedly get harder. We will have a new Governor and Cabinet Commissioners who know little about our union and our fights to win safe patient care and working conditions. We have to plan for new people in important offices like the Departments of Health and Senior Services, Labor and Insurance. It's time to turn wishing into mobilization. It's time to begin the work of educating the new Governor and his appointments about the health care needs of our patients and the safety of the healthcare workforce. Together, we can fight for New Jersey's future. |
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