AFL-CIO Bus Tour Fights Back Against Medicaid and Social Security Cuts with Nurses in Bakersfield and AFGE in Wilkes-Barre

On Thursday, the AFL-CIO’s “It’s Better In a Union” bus tour stopped by a California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) townhall in Bakersfield, California, as well as a rally with AFGE in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

In Bakersfield, local elected officials, union allies and members of community organizations from around the Central Valley gathered to speak out against attacks on Medicaid. The CNA/NNU townhall was co-sponsored by 24 organizations, including the Fresno, Madera, Tulare and Kings Counties Central Labor Council as well as the Kern, Inyo and Mono Counties Central Labor Council. As many as 3.4 million people in California could lose their health insurance as a result of the Trump administration's budget bill.

“The federal budget bill is a cruel piece of legislation that will have disastrous consequences for the most vulnerable in our communities, including the patients I care for in Bakersfield,” said Sandy Reding, a registered nurse at Bakersfield Memorial and a president of California Nurses Association, an affiliate of NNU. “This bill will make the rich even richer, put jobs at risk, endanger the lives of hard-working people, and take away two basic human rights: health care and food.”

In Wilkes-Barre, AFGE National President Everett Kelley headlined the rally to fight back against Social Security Administration (SAA) staffing cuts. He spoke about how AFGE and the labor movement at-large has been mobilizing to protect Social Security.

“Across the country, we are using our voice—as workers, as parents, as people who care about our communities—to demand that this administration and Congress do whatever it takes to protect Social Security,” Kelley said. “The American people deserve nothing less.”

Kelley was also joined by Jessica Lapointe, president of AFGE Council 220, who explained the critical role that SSA workers play in the lives of millions of Americans.

"For 90 years, we've kept America's greatest anti-poverty success story alive. We serve widows, orphans, the elderly, disabled, every vulnerable soul in your families and your communities, and they deserve respect and dignity when they come for their earned benefits,” Lapointe said.