Thousands of University of California patient care workers are back on the job today after a two-day strike at five UC medical centers demanding better patient care and safe staffing levels. Outside the centers, members of AFSCME Local 3299—the nurses, surgical and X-ray technicians, custodians, servers, cooks and others who keep one of the largest medical systems in the country running—chanted:  

What’s this about? Patient care! All day, all night—safe staffing is our fight.

Jennifer Angarita in AFL-CIO Field Mobilization sends us this report.

From marches to teach-ins, activists across the country have mobilized around the DREAM Act, a common-sense immigration bill for students who were brought to the United States at a young age and who serve in the military or attend college for at least two years. Many have even risked deportation and detention to raise awareness of their cause. Matias Ramos is a prominent DREAM leader and UCLA graduate who was detained last year by ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) while traveling.

More than 11,000 registered nurses at five University of California (UC) hospitals are voting this week on a tentative 26-month contract that, if approved, would provide for significant improvements for patients and nurses. The nurses, members of  the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU), began voting yesterday on the pact at  UC hospitals at Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Davis (Sacramento) and Irvine, as well as student health centers at other UC campuses. The voting continues through Thursday.