"Advocates of single-payer universal healthcare—the system favored by most Americans—continue to protest their exclusion from discussions on healthcare reform. On Tuesday [May 12, 2009], five doctors, nurses and single-payer advocates were arrested at a Senate Finance Committee hearing, bringing the total number of arrests in less than a week to thirteen. [Amy Goodman spoke] with two of those arrested: Single Payer Action founder Russell Mokhiber and Dr. Margaret Flowers of Physicians for a National Health Program."

Excerpt from Democracy Now story, "Baucus’s Raucous Caucus: Doctors, Nurses and Activists Arrested Again for Protesting Exclusion of Single-Payer Advocates at Senate Hearing on Healthcare"
Interview by: Amy Goodman
Posted: May 13, 2009

Read the complete interview on the Democracy Now webpage.
"In Louisville, Ky., and around the country, organized labor may be facing a major setback in the most contentious fight over labor laws since the 1940s. The battle has ground on for 20 years. In 1989 and again in 1994, a clear majority of nurses at a Louisville, Ky., hospital signed cards saying they wanted a union. But each time a majority of the nurses later voted down the idea when it was put to a secret ballot."

Excerpt from The New York Times article, "Bid to Organize Nurses Faces Setback in Congress"
Written by: Steven Greenhouse
Published: April 20, 2009

Read the complete NYT article here.
"Two of the nation’s fastest-growing labor unions -- the Service Employees International Union and the California Nurses Association -- ended a bitter yearlong dispute on Wednesday by agreeing to work together to unionize hospital workers and push for universal health coverage."

Excerpt from The New York Times article, "Two Unions, Once Bitter Rivals, Will Now Work Together"
Written by: Steven Greenhouse
Published: March 19, 2009

Read the complete NYT article here.