Sen. Bernie Sanders will join with a broad array of labor, environmental, healthcare, consumer and other advocacy groups in Washington DC Thursday, November 17, to promote a people’s agenda and a common commitment to stepping up grassroots mobilizations for economic and social justice and equality as the incoming Trump administration takes office.

What: Rally for social and economic justice and equality

Featured speaker – Sen. Bernie Sanders

When: Thursday, November 17, 1 p.m.

Where: Upper Senate Park, U.S. Capitol, Washington DC



Common concerns will be support for an agenda of creating good paying, environmentally friendly jobs, rejecting the threat by House Speaker Paul Ryan to privatize Medicare, climate action, and an end to threats against people of color, women, and LGBT people that have escalated since the election.



Activists will also celebrate the apparent defeat of the fatally flawed Trans Pacific Partnership agreement, following months of protests by labor and progressive organizations that culminated in the opposition to the trade deal by all three leading Presidential candidates.



The successful movement to stop the TPP “indicates the power of a unified, community movement and grassroots activism that will have even greater urgency in the coming years,” said Jean Ross, RN, co-president of National Nurses United, a leading organization of the November 17 day of action.



More than 60 national organizations have endorsed the day of action.



NNU members will also visit members of Congress Thursday morning, as well as in several other cities, to oppose the Ryan proposal to privatize Medicare, and press instead for expanding and improving Medicare to cover all Americans, the real solution to problems that have emerged under the Affordable Care Act.



NNU is also one of many organizations that have spoken out in the post-election atmosphere to support immigrant families now living in fear of deportation and others who have been targeted by hate speech and other threats.



“Nurses know that public health begins with personal safety, that is endangered by threats to your family or exposure to hate crimes. It is incumbent on all of us to speak out today,” said Ross.



Activists also note that even with the defeat of the TPP, pressure must continue against other corporate trade deals that are harmful to workers, as well as endangering environmental, health, and safety protections.



As a result of a pro-corporate global trade deal vote last spring, Congress continues to have fast track authority to approve such treaties without amendments for up to four more years.