For 18 years, “Izzy” Pistolessi has worked as a nurse at Kaiser’s Falls Church Care Center, but she has done so much more.
On the job, she is a mentor to other nurses, conducts outreach to the community, promotes public health, educates and cares for patients, and serves as a UFCW Local 400 shop steward. Off the job, Izzy is a volunteer and leader with the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, a member of the Medical Reserve Corps, and a union activist who recently participated in Local 400’s Lobby Day. Now she’s being recognized by Kaiser with their 2016 National Extraordinary Nurse Award. This is a rare honor, and Izzy is only the second nurse from Kaiser’s Mid-Atlantic Region to receive this recognition. She will be flown to California in May to accept her award. “I’m very fortunate to work for Kaiser Permanente and do the work that I love to do—caring for patients and nurturing other nurses so they become better,” Izzy said. “And I’m proud to serve my co-workers as a shop steward. To receive this honor is a complete surprise—but it’s also wonderful.” On today’s labor calendar, a reminder that today is Equal Pay Day, when women’s earnings finally catch up to men’s earnings from the previous year. Join the demand for Equal Pay during our Twitter Storm today from 2 to 3pm, using the EqualPayDay hashtag on Twitter. And tonight, catch a screening of “1984,” 8pm at the Old Greenbelt Theatre, in Greenbelt, MD, co-sponsored by the DC LaborFest. More than 140 art house movie theatres across the country will be screening 1984 today. The film stars John Hurt, who died last month, and this date was chosen because it's the day George Orwell's protagonist Winston Smith begins rebelling against his oppressive government by keeping a forbidden diary. As always, complete details are on our website at dclabor.org; click on calendar Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1907, the first issue of The Labor Review, a "weekly magazine for organized workers," was published in Minneapolis. Edna George, a cigar packer in Minneapolis, won $10 in gold for suggesting the name “Labor Review.” The Labor Review has been published continuously since then, currently as a monthly newspaper In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, where he had been supporting a sanitation workers’ strike. In the wake of this tragedy, riots broke out in many cities, including Washington, D.C. And in 1989, some 1,700 United Mine Workers members in Virginia and West Virginia beat back concessions demanded by the Pittston Coal Company. Today’s labor quote is by George Orwell, from his novel “1984” “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell, who also wrote “Until they became conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.” Union City Radio is supported by UnionPlus, which is committed to improving the quality of life for all working families; find out more at unionplus.org.
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