U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh helped commemorate National Nurses Week by meeting with nursing professionals.
Nurses shared with Walsh their bedside experiences with patients during the pandemic, industry staffing challenges and the importance of retaining and recruiting workers to have a quality workforce, according to a May 9 release. Walsh noted nurses put their patients and communities first.
“Staffing challenges existed before the pandemic, but the hardships the nation’s nursing professionals overcame for more than two years are unprecedented,” Walsh said in the release. “The Department of Labor is committed to shoring up this workforce at both ends – by attracting more workers to fill the pipeline of new nurses and promoting job quality to keep nurses at work.”
Representatives of the American Federation of Teachers, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, National Nurses United and the Service Employees Industrial Union joined the U.S. Department of Labor for the celebration, the release said. Representatives from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also took part.
Other participants were representatives of the agency's Employment and Training Administration, Women’s Bureau, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Wage and Hour Division. From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, leaders from the Health Resources and Services Administration and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services were also present, the release said.
