Folks – I spent this last weekend on the picket line with the nurses of Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, who held a 3-day strike over chronic staffing shortages and shrinking wages.

Both of my kids were born at Providence Everett, and I know it well. This is the hospital where my wife works today. While she isn’t part of the strike, she and all of her coworkers have been impacted by the hospital’s labor practices.

America’s nursing profession is in deep trouble. Even before the pandemic, hospitals struggled with staff shortages for decades. The pandemic made everything worse, with extreme burnout, low pay, and unsafe staffing levels leading to a mass exodus of trained, qualified, and highly experienced nurses.

That’s been a boon to the “traveling nurse” industry – contract nurses who get paid 2-4 times their peers on staff and rotate between hospitals to fill what are supposed to be short-term gaps.

The result is a vicious cycle. From Time Magazine last year:

“Hospital administrators, facing shortages in staff nurses, spend a mint hiring contract nurses, which makes them less able or willing to increase their staff nurses’ pay. So more staff nurses quit to become contract nurses, thus further lowering nurse supply and driving demand for contract nurses.”

This is exactly what is happening at Providence. Since 2019, Providence has lost over 600 nursing staff over low pay. Meanwhile, hospital CEO Rodney Hochman hauls away over $10M a year in compensation.

The result? Massive turnover that strains remaining staff and makes patients less safe.

Providence nurses are sick of it, and I’m with them. While they walked off the job last week, hospital staff brought on only 520 contract nurses to do the work of 1300, and filled the gaps with unpaid “volunteers.”

I’m running for Congress to fight for universal healthcare, labor rights, fair wages, and more. My opponent is a former healthcare lobbyist who gets all his money from CEOs and corporate PACs like the American Hospital Association – to which Providence CEO Rodney Hochman is a regular donor.

Our Top Two primary in Washington is the best chance we’ve got to oust a corporate Democrat from this safe progressive seat. Can you give $25, $50 or more to our grassroots campaign today?

While the three-day strike has ended and the nurses are back on the job (for now), there has been no meaningful progress towards addressing their key concern – chronic understaffing and the impact on both patient safety and staff wellbeing.

I’m a working class family man, a former public school teacher and union leader. Help me win this seat so the working people of WA-2 will have a voice that truly represents them.

I stand in solidarity with the nurses of Providence Everett and working people everywhere.

All workers deserve living wages, safe working conditions, and ample time for rest. With your help, I will go to Congress to stand up for those rights.

In solidarity,

Jason Call