Local 40’s annual school supply and
backpack drive was a big success again
this year, collecting more than 200
backpacks fully stocked for the children
in its community of Mt. Clemens,
Michigan. But the even bigger news is
that Local 40 soon will have established
an official charitable foundation, the
OPEIU Local 40 Nurses Charity Fund.
Local 459’s nurses are similarly doing good works in their community of Lansing, Michigan, recently conducting their own annual Stuff a Backpack project to help abused, neglected and at-risk children in the foster care system.
The OPEIU Nurses Council (ONC) has made safe staffing levels a top priority and joined hundreds of nurses in a rally in Washington, D.C.,
calling for the passage of legislation that would make staffing ratios the law of the land.
Nurses from Locals 40 and 459 in Michigan traveled to Washington to press for passage of S.864, National Nursing Shortage Reform and
Patient Advocacy Act, and H.R. 1602, Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2015, both aimed at improving
patient safety by implementing staffing ratios and addressing the nurse shortage.