Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Nurses Needle Arnold at Stones Concert in Boston

Registered nurses from Chicago protest against California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger outside Fenway Park before the start of the Rolling Stones concert in Boston, Massachusetts, August 21, 2005. Nurses gathered in Boston to protest against Schwarzenegger who was attending a Rolling Stones concert in Fenway Park. The nurses were protesting against proposed ballot initiatives in California.

The Boston Herald has Nurses needle Arnold over health-care plan.

Arnold, they’re back.

A group of California nurses who have been a thorn in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s side ever since he said he wanted to “kick their butts” protested at Fenway Park yesterday to shame the Governator for a political money-grab during the Rolling Stones show.
“We are going to fight like hell. Fight like mad to stop him,” said Kelly DiGiacomo, a cardiac nurse in Roseville, Calif.,whowas dressed in her red nurse’s uniform and white hat to protest the governor’s plan to cut nursing staff levels.

So, what else is new. These nurse union activists want mandatory staffing ratios that Gray Davis, the Democrat Legislature and their union contributors doled out before he was recalled. California Governor Scwarzenegger last Fall issued emergency orders to temporarily stay the reduction of staffing ratios from 6 patients per nurse to 5 patients per nurse. These emergency orders will end in 2008. Hence, the wrath of the California Nurses Association and their sympathetic union buddies. They have been stalking the Governor ever since.

Schwarzenegger peddled tickets – donated by Ameriquest – for as much as $100,000 each in exchange for a seat with him.
About 60 California, Chicago and Massachusetts nurses, as well as Bay State teachers and firefighters protested with signs that read “Stop Arnold” and chanted “Arnold, Arnold he’s no good. Send him back to Hollywood.”
The California Nurses Association has protested at 75 public appearances in the past nine months to show their disgust for his plan to eliminate California’s mandatory patient-to-nurse ratios.

The shortage of nurses in California guarantees well paid work in their field. In fact, the nursing to patient ratio in California seems to work well in my observations of recent hospital visits.

This is a union power grab for more dues paying members – nothing more. And union intimidation tactics.

California Special Election Season has begun.

Update #1

The Boston Globe puts the number of California nurses protesting at Fenway Park at 15.

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