"We're Not Gonna Take It" (UNAP Strike in Providence)
I gave this performance of "We're not gonna take it!" with hundreds of nurses in Providence, RI on July 27, 2018, just as they were returning to work, following a multi-day lock out by their bosses. I re-wrote the verses to original Twisted Sister song with them in mind: https://www.facebook.com/WPRI12/videos/10155658747568202/
LYRICS:
Oh we're not gonna take it
No, we ain't gonna take it
Oh we're not gonna take it anymore
We are proud union nurses
We won’t let you coerce us
This is our life, this is our song
We'll fight the powers that be who
Don't see the work that we do
You don't know us, you don't belong
CHO
Oh you're so condescending
Your gall is never ending
You replace us with a scab nursing crew
Your contract offer is pathetic
The things you fix are just cosmetic
If that's your best, your best won't do
Oh Oh
We're right (yeah)
We're free (yeah)
We'll fight (yeah)
You'll see (yeah)
CHO X2
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The Parody is by Ben GrosscupAuthor
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Twister Sister is the original author.Author
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Ben GrosscupName of Band or Artist
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Project Type:Music Video
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Genres:Punk Rock, Folk
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Runtime:2 minutes 34 seconds
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Completion Date:July 27, 2018
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Production Budget:0 USD
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
BEN GROSSCUP leads songs on picket lines and at union meetings to agitate for workers’ power on the job. Drawing upon activist folk singing traditions, he brings new songs to the places where they are most relevant. He works with unions and other social justice organizations to raise political consciousness while singing together for a common purpose. The unions he has sung for include: Massachusetts Nurses Association; Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals; United Nurses and Allied Professionals; New York State Nurses Association; Massachusetts Teachers Association; United Food and Commercial Workers, Locals 1459 abnd 919; and SEIU Local 509. He performs a wide range of politically inspired music—much of it original. He is working on his debut CD release.
Based in Greenfield, MA, Ben serves as Executive Director of People’s Music Network (www.peoplesmusic.org), a diverse community of singers, artists, activists and allies that cultivates music and cultural work as catalysts for a just and peaceful world.
I write and adapt songs and lead them on picket lines to give workers a chance to experience the power of group singing for building union and community solidarity.
Much of my work as a picket line song leader has been with nurses unions. Nurses already know about systemic staffing and safety problems at hospitals from their daily experience, but they rarely hear a song that directly addresses those problems. So I bring it to them in the moments where they are mobilized in collective action.
Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger, Charlie King, Anne Feeney and others are among the activist folksingers who developed the tradition I follow in. It is a tradition where workers sing together to amplify their political and economic power.