Creating the Office of National Nurse

CREATING THE OFFICE OF NATIONAL NURSE

WHEREAS, nurses are crucial to the promotion of preventive care and the caring of the whole person; and

WHEREAS, nurses are highly valued and trusted by the public and are often in a position to deliver educational messages to the public about ways to improve their health and prevent disease; and

WHEREAS, there is a serious effort to create an Office of the National Nurse; and

WHEREAS , the National Nurse would act to raise awareness of health issues and promote good health through education and community outreach; and

WHEREAS , the National Nurse would serve as an effective complement to the existing U.S. Office of the Surgeon General; and

WHEREAS, the Office of the National Nurse would provide input at the public policy table on a number of valuable initiatives, such as

• providing weekly broadcasts for the media and the internet to promote health;
• increasing the number of nurse educators;
• facilitating the deployment of nurses to under-served areas;
• creating a National Nurse Corps to deliver nursing assistance and education to communities, particularly communities in crisis; and

WHEREAS , the American Federation of Teachers represents many thousands of nurses and nurse educators across the United States ; and

WHEREAS, this effort to create the Office of the National Nurse was initiated by nursing faculty who are members of AFT Local 2277, the Portland Community College Faculty Federation; and

WHEREAS, this effort is generating widespread support across the nation, with legislation introduced in Congress:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers encourage the effort to create an Office of the National Nurse embodied in legislation such as H.R. 4903 and work to promote passage of legislation such as H.R. 4903; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT help to spread awareness of the effort to create an Office of the National Nurse among its members and partners.


IN SUPPORT OF TEXTBOOK AFFORDABABILITY

WHEREAS, textbooks are an integral part of quality education; and

WHEREAS, students in post-secondary education must generally purchase their own textbooks; and

WHEREAS, the cost of these textbooks has been steadily rising over the last two decades; and

WHEREAS, the expense of purchasing textbooks is a major cost of attending college or university in some states and contributes to greater inequality, compelling many students to drop out and put off their dream of higher education; and

WHEREAS, the reason for these increases is subject to debate, but include factors such as excessive corporate profit related to consolidation in the publishing industry, unnecessary bundling and new editions; and

WHEREAS, the high cost of textbooks due to such factors is also putting a strain on the budgets of K-12 districts and increasing existing disparity between wealthy and poor districts; and

WHEREAS, the excessively high cost of textbooks is compelling instructors to make course decisions that compromise quality; and

WHEREAS, educational unions such as the American Federation of Teachers have an important role to play in researching such issues that affect students; and

WHEREAS, educational unions such as the American Federation of Teachers have an important role to play in developing and articulating strategies for keeping textbook costs low; and

WHEREAS, educational unions such as the American Federation of Teachers have an important role to play in advocating for any necessary legislation to help keep higher education affordable:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers declare its support of efforts to make textbooks affordable for students in higher education; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT encourage higher education locals to initiate discussions among its members on the subject of textbook affordability in order to offer alternatives to the current textbook supply and cost systems; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT research, explore, and support legislation in the pursuit of alleviating this problem.

IN SUPPORT OF AFFORDABLE PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION

WHEREAS, the American Federation of Teachers is on record as advocating a system of free public higher education; and

WHEREAS, many states are steadily decreasing public funding for college and university education, and students are consequently forced to pay increasingly higher tuition; and

WHEREAS, as a result of increased tuition, students are being forced either to assume higher and higher debt loads or to put off their pursuit of higher education; and

WHEREAS, having an educated populace is a social and community good, and should be supported primarily through public resources; and

WHEREAS, the AFT is committed to providing and advocating for access to high-quality higher education:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers and its affiliates seek out and support candidates for state legislatures and governor’s offices who are committed to keeping higher education affordable; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT advocate for legislation, funding packages, and ballot initiatives, where that process is available, that will restore the affordability of higher education; and

RESOLVED, that all activities carried out in furtherance of this resolution, including which candidates were sought out and supported, as well as what legislation, funding packages, and ballot initiatives were advocated for or against, be reported regularly.

IN SUPPORT OF AFFORDABLE ACCESS TO QUALITY HEALTH CARE FOR PART-TIME EMPLOYEES

Where as, our current system of employment-based health insurance generally prevents part-time workers from gaining access to group plans; and

Where as, part-time workers need access to group coverage in order to secure affordable and adequate health care for themselves and their families; and

Where as, our current system of employment-based health insurance creates incentives for employers to keep employee workload below the qualifying level, despite the needs of both institution and employee; and

Where as, this practice has a deleterious effect on the workloads of the shrinking number of those employed full-time; and

Where as, the above reasons have been important factors in leading AFT-Oregon to support a single-payer insurance system; and

Where as, despite its long-term commitment to moving to a single-payer system, AFT-Oregon may need to consider interim solutions that include employment-based elements, such as state-wide employment-based insurance pools, or other programs; and

Where as, such interim solutions may do little to improve the situation for part-time workers and could potentially even harm their access to affordable and adequate health care; therefore,

Be It Resolved, that AFT-Oregon will advocate for the needs of part-time workers whenever legislation and initiatives are being developed by the coalitions with which AFT-Oregon participates; and therefore,

Be It Further Resolved, that AFT-Oregon will not support insurance-reform legislation that does not further the cause of providing part-time workers with access to adequate and affordable insurance; and therefore,

Be It Finally Resolved, that AFT-Oregon will prepare and submit resolutions for the 2006 Convention of the American Federation of Teachers and the next convention of the Oregon AFL-CIO that will make the securing of adequate and affordable health care for part-time workers a priority of those organizations.

Submitted by Local 2277
Portland Community College Federation
Michael Dembrow, President
February 2, 2006