California Governor Newsom halts COVID-19 tiered restriction system, plans full reopening in June as deaths hit 60,000
There is a growing gulf between the anti-scientific policies of the ruling class and the grim reality of the current stage of the pandemic. The Democratic Party-run state of California was just months ago the epicenter of the winter COVID-19 surge where hospitals were pushed to the brink at zero percent capacity, however this past week Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans to fully reopen the state by June 15.
The plan will allow the full range of businesses, workplaces, schools and public areas to remain open with even fewer restrictions, adopting nothing other than “common sense” safety measures like mask-wearing. Throwing out its current color tier metrics for restrictions, the new “plan” hinges on two vague and entirely unspecified prerequisites: a “sufficient vaccine supply” and “low hospitalizations.” What the state deems acceptable has been l
St. Vincent nurses in Massachusetts in fourth week of strike for safe staffing
Nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts are entering the fourth week of strike action. St. Vincent is owned by Tenet Healthcare, a Dallas, Texas-based conglomerate that has so far spent at least $22 million to hire strikebreaking replacement nurses. After a series of federally mediated negotiations, the nurses, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, took their demand for safe ratios and patient care to the picket line on March 8 .
Roughly 700 nurses maintain the picket in shifts. Two entrances, one to the parking garage and to the loading docks, have become hotspots. Last week, the hospital installed two surveillance towers to monitor both entrances 24/7, under the pretext of maintaining safety. Worcester police officers, paid for by the hospital to keep the entrances open at a rate of $30,000 a day, installed a surveillance camera of their own.
Record surge in coronavirus cases at Stellantis’ Sterling Stamping Plant
A major outbreak of the coronavirus is underway at Stellantis’ Sterling Stamping Plant near Detroit. At least 28 infections are confirmed to have occurred in the plant last month, the highest monthly total on record. Sterling Stamping is the largest auto stamping plant in the world, with a workforce of nearly 2,200.
The outbreak at the facility takes places amid a massive surge of COVID-19 in the state of Michigan, driven especially by outbreaks in factories and schools. In little more than a month, cases statewide have increased seven-fold to 7,107 on Wednesday, closing in rapidly on the record highs in November.
Striking nurses at St. Vincent Hospital starved of strike pay by MNA
Nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, are in the fourth week of an open-ended strike, demanding safe staffing ratios. Having walked out on March 8, 10 days after issuing management a strike notice, they have sacrificed nearly four weeks of pay.
The Dallas, Texas-based corporate owner, Tenet Healthcare, has so far spent $22 million for strikebreakers, public relations, and police details, and recently installed surveillance towers, in what has become a one-sided war of attrition, as the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) union seeks to isolate and wear down nurses, depriving them of strike pay.
St. Vincent Hospital nurses in Worcester, Mass. in second week of strike for safe staffing ratios
Nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, have entered their second week of an ongoing strike. They are demanding that Tenet Healthcare, which owns St. Vincent Hospital, agree to establish strict ratios for safer patient and workplace conditions. The roughly 700 nurses on the picket line, members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, have been joined by other health care workers, including personal care assistants (PCA), pulmonary technicians and housekeepers, who face similarly dangerous conditions at the hospital.
On February 10 the nurses gave 89 percent approval to authorize a strike. Negotiations resumed the next day but quickly stalled again, as hospital management refused to address their central concern: assignment limits of four patients to every nurse on medical-surgical floors.