In case we strike...

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

Hey, all. My bargaining unit's contract is in negotiations right now, and apparently it ain't going too well. We were all given flyers detailing how to prepare for a strike - making sure you have your original license, certifications, some savings. But I'd love to hear from anyone who has struck themselves. While the idea of my babies' parents walking through a picket line I'm on makes me feel all ooky inside, I don't cross picket lines. I just don't, not even at the grocery store.

I'd really prefer NOT to have to do agency work during a strike, partly because my hospital system employs over 10,000 nurses and I'm not interested in fighting all those people for a spot in a specialty I know nothing about. At this point I have enough savings for a month. Is this enough? How long do strikes usually last?

[pickledpepperRN]

I wish I knew the answer.

We generally have one or two day strikes. The nurses are often locked out for another couple days.

But we read hear about some very long strikes.

Our union doesn't want others, especially patients to honor the line. We have nurses ready and able to go care for patients if management asks.

I know of a couple times that has happened.

[llg, PhD, RN]

At this point I have enough savings for a month. Is this enough?

I'm a nurse, not a professional financial advisor. But most professional financial advisors recommend that we all have 3-6 months of living expenses set aside as an "emergency fund" even when everything is going great in our lives. If I were you, I would be looking for ways to increase your savings -- not only for a possible strike, but for your general well-being in the long run. Perhaps you could pick up some extra shifts now and/or find some ways to cut back on your expenses so that you can save more.

Good luck to you. I wish you and your colleagues well. Keep us posted.

[Miss Mab]

Hey Elizabells,

I Know I'm late to your question but i can't help noting:

'My' strikes--we've had two so far and are gearing up for the third---are very much as SpaceNurse has described. Quite civilized little affairs if I must say. They were each called with a few weeks notice so everybody could plan ahead and they were scheduled for two or three days--and then the hospitals were snotty enough to lock us out for two or three more--and then back to work we go.....

So, really, it's kinda like having an unpaid week off every two months or so. You have the cash for that. I feel genuinely bad for the areas where strikes are the real meat and potatoes kind of strikes where you are out there and there is actual hardship on both sides.

This? This has been kinda pathetic...for everyone.

Anyway, that's been my experience. I don't wish you the hardship of a protracted lockout but the exercises we've been doing seem a little futile. (except the rhetoric is really nasty and you do learn just how undervalued you are as an employee---if you didn't already have an inkling)

I know I'm rambling--

Good luck

[pickledpepperRN]

I've been reading about your struggle.

Other strikes have been successful.

Kaiser nurses held rolling strikes in 1997, if I remember correctly. One hospital one day, another the next.

Nurses spent more time transferring patients than on the picket like.

The result was freedom of speech and patient advocacy.

Kaiser and the other unions agreed to a "labor/management partnership" that would have forced RNs to keep quiet about unsafe conditions.

A southern California RN friend had to report a very unsafe situation to the Department of Health in secret because her union told her she could not make the report due to the "partnership".

Another 1 day strike in Southern California resulted in contract language requiring the the regulation requiring a nurse to only float to where he or she is competent. I big victory for patients and nurses there.

And yes, pay increases too.

[Miss Mab]

Thanks for your thoughts.

I do have no doubt it'll eventually be successful. We aren't even arguing over $$$ issues--no way can this multi-million dollar earning "non-profit" corporation sway a public sentiment against safe staffing and injury prevention(who outright rejects the 'idea' of lift teams?) Ridiculous....

So, yes, eventually this will settle and in the process we got to see the secret memos sent out among admin.(like the one posted on here from the DON asking unit managers to "single out your top three troublemakers, you all know who they are" and target them for harrassment on an escalating basis. Or the one that chastised RN's for promoting the whole lift team thing because they were "just trying to shift injury from one group to another." Hello? Think we'd prefer NO staff injury, thank you very much). BTW, I can't believe there wasn't more of a response about these from members here. Are we really so inured to all of this that we just accept it as business as usual? Oh well, I guess just another day in the salt mines, eh?

Anyway, again I ramble. It will settle, of that I am sure. But you know something's definitely rotten in nursing when even the highest paid RN's in the country are saying,"ya know what? Chuck this".

Me? I'm just happy w/my other job. :)