In Greenfield on June 15 about 40 people attended a rally. The goal was to get the giant corporation that owns the Greenfield hospital, and other hospitals, to settle a fair union contract with the nurses at the Greenfield hospital. Suzanne Love is a nurse at the Greenfield hospital. She said, “We are simply asking Baystate Health to listen to its nurses, help us protect patient care, and keep care local. We have tried for many months to convince Baystate executives to invest more in our hospital and community, and we hope this action will show them we care deeply for our patients and will not give up.”

The nurses have a web site at www.MassNurses.org.

Four years ago, the nurses at the Greenfield hospital went on strike and won. One way to get politicians to deal with problems like climate change would be a general strike, where all workers refuse to work. General strikes helped end white minority rule in South Africa. That struggle culminated with Nelson Mandela, who was serving a life sentence in prison, being released and becoming South Africa's first black present in 1994.