this is "nightline." tonight, when workers revolt. from the frontline of the pandemic to the picket line.p15 job. the largest strike of its kind ever. >> that's what we're seeing. nurses who are burned out, who don't have employers who are supporting them and are leaving care. >> with demands that go far beyond money. >> we do need a say in what staffing looks like. >> nurses, teachers, train conductors. why american labor is pushing back. >> this country has had a love affair with free and cheap labor for a long, long time. >> and gloriae estefan.

>> i was watered with cuban sun and cuban water. >> how this grammy winner reshaped the music industry. >> if there wasn't a gloria estefan there wouldn't be a ricky martin and shakira and some others. >> and of course the conga singer's iconic sound. >> "nightline" will be right back.

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good evening. thank you for joining us, i'm janai norman. we begin tonight with workers across america picking up signs and putting their foot down. teachers walking out of classrooms, a looming nationwide rail strike. and in minnesota, thousands of nurses now making their demands clear. we join them on the picket line and quickly learned that this goes far beyond getting paid. >> going to head to the hospital and set up kind of our base camp. check-in tables, signs, food, all that. >> reporter: here on this quiet street in duluth, minnesota, just before the break of dawn. chris ruvish is preparing for a fight. >> for decades, we've undervalued human service professions in general.

teachers, social workers.pnurse. and so we need to really redouble our efforts to get people back to bedside care. >> reporter: the father of one is a cardiac nurse and part of an energized effort to change minnesota's health care system. >> shut, it, down! >> reporter: over the past three days, nearly 15,000 nurses at more than a dozen different hospitals throughout the state went on strike, demanding higher wages, increased staffing and better working conditions. >> our health care and our profession are in crisis. and we must stand together for each other, our co-workers and our patients. >> people are finally waking up and seeing how they've been abused. this country has had a love affair with free and cheap labor for a long, long time. >> reporter: this strike, the largest ever among private sector nurses is one of the

latest examples of workers staging walkouts across the country and across industries. from teachers. >> if we continue to do things the way we're going, this whole thing is going to fall apart. >> reporter: to factory workers. to baristas. >> we're not going to stop until every starbucks in the united states that wants a union gets a union. >> reporter: even a looming rail strike this week. >>'s been quite a while since we've seen such a widespread revolt. i think it suggests a strength to the labor force, an increasing amount of worker voice and willingness and demand to what they think is due to them. >> reporter: chris never expected to find himself on the picket lines. >> i really love being able to come in at the beginning of my shift to meet a patient and working to get them to a place where they're not only physically recovered but mentally able to understand and care for themselves. >> all right, we've been standing strong. >> reporter: but the seven-year

nursing veteran says his job has gotten harder over the years. >> there are simply less staff to take care of our patients. we're seeing nurse whose are burned out, who don't have employers who are pousupporting them and in turn are ever look care, leaving the bedside. >> for people who don't know what it's like inside a hospital. i call it fight, team fight. for enough staff, the right kind of staff and equipment even before the pandemic. >> reporter: the number of health care workers has faced a steep decline from pre-pandemic levels. 37,000 fewer people now work in health care than in february of 2020. but a surge in demand for health care has left many nurses feeling overwhelmed. >> i suddenly realize this cannot be the new normal. this is not the new normal for the care i want to give. i am legally and ethically responsible for what i do, for those patients. if something happens, that's on me. if i don't stand up, then i am letting down those patients that

i care for. >> thanks for coming. thanks for coming. >> reporter: chris works with the minnesota nurses association. and after contract negotiations stalled at several hospital this is summer, the union decided to strike against their employers. he says it's about more than just wages. >> morning shift, all right. >> they don't want to talk about staffing. they don't want to talk about workplace conditions. frankly, the administrators of our hospitals aren't at the bedside. they are not giving care. they don't see how or jobs work. and that's why we need to have a voice in the process. >> reporter: in a statement, the hospital group chris works for says they're disappointed the union is focussing its efforts on a strike instead of at the bargaining table and that the union has consistently declined their requests for mediation, adding, we cannot agree to a 27% wage increase because it's not sustainable. for chris's young family, this hitting close to home. his wife andrea, an oncology

nurse who works blorks away also picketing. the two, parents two a 10-week-old son oscar. >> we're fighting to protect not only our nurses but also our community in terms of the patients that we take care of. >> having a child that i'm caring for, it really did make it real clear to me that this is a line that we have to, we have to draw, and we have to stand up and advocate for our patients. looking at my, my kiddo, i knew that he's totally dependent on me, and in the same way, we have a lot of patients who are in really vulnerable states. >> woo! that's right! northwestern nurses! woo! >> reporter: two hours down the road from chris in minneapolis, kelly is also striking. >> we are out on the picket line for the second of a three-day strike. out here advocating for safe

staffing inside hospitals around the state of minnesota. >> reporter: a registered icu nurse, kelly has been working in hospitals for 14 year. >> we need a say in what staffing looks like inside the hospitals and protections for when we do stand up and advocate for our patients to have safe conditions and for us not to take on more than we are able to safely care for. >> reporter: in a statement, kelly's employer said they're sched scheduling a bargaining session next week for a contract agreement that recognizes the contributions of our nurses and communities. this isn't the first strike kelly has been a part of. back in 2010, nurses across the state went on strikeover staffing issue, and again in 2016 for bert health care

benefits. >> it feels like an opportunity for us to really save our profession in a lot of ways. >> reporter: the issues raised here by minnesota's nurses are emblematic of the frustrations among workers across the country. >> economic forces across the whole economy. inflation is up, and that as well as workers' wages. >> reporter: and the pandemic, changing the way people view work, from some quietly quitting their jobs to others demanding better conditions.p>> covid was people working from home. a lot of job loss that thankfully we're starting to recover from, but also a lot of concerns about health and safety. >> reporter: the result? an increase in unionization efforts at major companies like amazon and starbucks. a recent poll found that public approval for labor unions is at its highest point since the mid '60s. >> we're seeing a real viral

spread of organizing activity. this current generation's not willing to accept things that we've been putting up with for quite a while. and i think that's a real sea change. >> reporter: and labor strikes aren't bound to go away anytime soon. rail workers are gearing up for a massive strike this week, the first in over three decades, amid a dispute with railway companies over pay and working conditions. >> trying to get us some sick time to be able to take care of, one, ourselves, and two, our loved ones. that's what we're fighting for, the quality of life. >> reporter: back in minnesota, chris feels his participation in the strike as a kind of service to his patients. >> we can make a difference for our patients. not only for the care wive them bhe advocacy th w on their behalf. up next, our interview with gloria estefan, a music legend

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gloria estefan shot to superstardom as part of the miami sound machine. but her story began in cuba, and it's no exaggeration to say that without her music wouldn't shine as bright. she sat down with our maria elaina salinas. >> reporter: gloria estefan, an icon, music maker and change maker.

she brought a seismic shift to the music industry with her cuban sound and catapulted success for some of the biggest international stars, staying true to her roots an and enever forgetting. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ this is your life, and we're going to start in the beginning. >> oh, boy. it's long, but quick. >> reporter: born in havana, cuba, she and her mother fled when the threat of a cuban invasion was a reality. >> we came in may of 1960. so we weren't that welcome either. i remember looking for an apartment with my mom, and there were signs that said no children, no pets, no cubans. >>. >> reporter: your father was a true patriot.

he fought in vietnam. >> he did. my father believed in freedom. he told my mom, i have to fight communism wherever it may be. >> reporter: even though he came back alive from vietnam, the war ended up killing him. >> yes, it did. he was, he had agent orange poisoning, which manifested in multiple sclerosis, but he had a lot of other symptoms that had nothing to do with ms. so he was on that list of the agent orange and died at 47. he got sick at 34. he was very idealistic and he put his money where his mouth was and his money for his life as well. >> reporter: what did they instill in you? >> hard work, schooling. she was a stickler about us having an education and a good one. she work sod ed so hard for pre school. it was very important that we kept the spanish language and

did it correctly. >> in high school you played the guitar, when did you decide this is what you wanted to do for a living? >> i didn't feel the need to do it for other people. then i met emilio. >> how did you and emilio meet? >> my mom says we're going to a wedding. we walk into the banquet hall in hialeah, and i see somebody playing "do the hustle" on the accordion. and it's a tux and fairy lights and everything, and i never went anywhere. i was enchanted. and he was like, why don't you sit in with the band? and my mom's like, sing, sing for him. he asked me to join the band, and i said no. he track immedied me down two w later ♪ you can't control yourself any

longer ♪ ♪ feel the rhythm of the music getting stronger ♪ >> they didn't want "conga" to be the single. and we told them "conga"'s the single. it took a year. they thought it wasn't going to be the hit, because they thought it was too latin sounding. >> oh, my god, now it's played everywhere. you know, you were the first latina, certainly the first he m female hispanic to make the crossover. now your music is such a part of our culture, but it wasn't easy to make the crossover. >> emilio and i were the biggest cheerleaders. every time we would tell them we want to do this, this is a cool mix. it was like you have to lose the percussion, lose the horns, lose the girl singer. they don't sell. most of the bands were all

male-centered. but there's nothing more motivating to emilio and me than the word "no." >> if there wasn't a gloria estefan, there wouldn't be ricky martin, shakira, selena and so many others. do you realize what a trail blazer you are? >> that's a lovely complement. i hope people would recognize good music. >> you and elio have opened so many doors for so many people. >> so many doors were slammed in our face. >> not just producing their work but using your contacts. i see it all the time. >> it's a joy. because we want to be supportive. we want latinos to succeed. we wanted people to hear shakira which is different. she's lebanee-colombian. >> your work, your talent has been recognized in countless ways.

emmys, presidential medal of honor, kennedy center. ellis island med a honor, a star on the walk of fame. i mean, you're even on the high school honor roll. >> yes! >> oh, yes. are you kidding me? to my mother, that's biggest honor of all. you know what, it's beautiful. those awards are really lovely. there's moments in your life where you look back, and you go wow, that's great. i remember when we got the presidential medal of freedom it's the first time a couple ever received it together. i always think of my dad. the med a fal of freedom is the reason he brought us to this country and to be receiving that was a big deal. >> wow t must have been very special for you. >> you did it to me again! >> no. >> you always make me cry. >> you want to smile? here's another one. you have your own barbie now! >> yes. she was born on my birthday.

september 1st. >> ah. >> and i literally sent them my outfit from that tour so they were such sticklers about being precise and making it be exactly as it could be true to life. >> right. >> we're even the same size. >> this is pretty special. come on. you celebrate and share your culture with your music. but what does being a latina mean to you? >> i think it's so enriching to be able to count on not just the wonderful culture that i've lived in the united states. the values that this country has instilled in me are just as important as the ones that my mother clung to and made sure she passed on to me. and i always say i was replanted in american soil, but i was watered with cuban sun and cuban

water. >> our thanks to maria elaina. and can you see more of that interview in the "soul of the nation" special now streaming on hulu. when we come back, all hail the queen as her majesty lies in state and mourners line up to say good-bye. ♪♪ there it is. that ta-da moment. when you aren't just wearing that style. you're owning it. find the brands, value, and inspiration to own your style. at macy's. one prilosec otc in the morning blocks excess acid production for a full 24 hours. unlike pepcid, which stops working after 9. 24 hour protection. prilosec otc one pill, 24 hours, zero heartburn. better skin from your body wash? prilosec otc try olay body wash with skincare super ingredient collagen! olay body wash hydrates for healthier-looking skin in just 14 days, from dry and dull to firm and radiant.

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and finally here tonight, her majesty the queen now lies in state at westminster hall where she will remain until her funeral on monday. members of the royal family were the first to pay their respects. the new king and queen.

the princess of wales wear ago diamond and pearl leaf brooch that belong to the queen. and the crowd stretching for miles with nearly a million well-wishers expecting to say good-bye. and that's "nightline." can you watch all of our full episodes on hulu. and we'll be right back here at the same time tomorrow. thank you for staying pupup wit us, goodnight, america.