During the Democratic presidential primary, some health care unions like National Nurses United came out strong for Bernie Sanders and Medicare for All. In Pennsylvania, the nurses in PASNAP have voted to support Medicare for All as well. And the union still supports that policy with Joe Biden as the presumptive nominee, says Maureen May, PASNAPs president and a full-time registered nurse. Despite the association of Medicare for All with the progressive left, May says its an uncontroversial position within her union, even among politically conservative members in rural areas.

Theres plenty of profit in the health care system which can be changed into care, May says.

PASNAPs political action committee hasnt gotten very far with its plans for the general election, May says. Anyway, she notes that nurses have consistently ranked among the most trusted professionals in the United States, and it doesnt make sense to get too tied in with any individual politician (whose profession ranks among the least trusted). In Philadelphia, Chris Woods, the president of District 1199C, which represents thousands of nursing-home workers, says his phone was lighting up with messages from friends and relatives with questions about COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic. The union has lost members to the disease.

This pandemic put us right in the center of everything, Woods says.

In the last few months, the union has fought for employers to provide PPE and hazard pay. District 1199C has also organized 120 behavioral-health employees at Delaware Valley Residential Care into the union, and applied to represent nonprofessional employees at Einstein Medical Center. And the group is going to work to make sure all of its members know where and how to vote in November.

No one is taking anything for granted, even as polls show Biden with a solid lead in Pennsylvania at the moment. And even if Pennsylvania flips blue again, theres still a long road to recover from the damage the pandemic has done.

I believe that we can make a difference after this COVID crisis, says May. And I hope the public remembers.

Read more:

Could 750000 Pennsylvania Health Care Workers Turn the Election? - Capital and Main