Strike nursing

kcmylorn · Sep 8, 2012

Nursing is in the state it is in because there is not enough unions to stop the outside interference- the short staffing, the unemployment in nursing, the excluding of the older nurses, the lack of decent pay for the services and responsibilities we render, the"dumbing down of our very existance, the handing over of OUR skills to UAP's which will gradually make us extinct- in some states there only has to be "ONE" RN on a floor, who do all think that RN is going to be. Some lonely little staff nurse. Heck NO! It's going to be the Unit Manager!!! They are purging themselves of all the staff nurses to have 1 big kohonna- The Unit manager, who has no experience in bedside care. The only butt they have been up is the CEO and adminstration's. The "Yes, man/woman" It's "staff nurse a cide"

From being a union nurse for 18 years( 1985-2002) and watching our working conditions improve during that time-

STAFFING NUMBERS observed BY MANAGEMENT according to acuity, if our census went over a certain number, we got an extra nurse, we were not scorned and,

treated like the dirt on managment's boots, we were talked to differently, our professional opinnions mattered to our nursing managment),

our pay increased( $12/hr- $32/hr not bad for 18 years, we had shift diffs, charge pay, weekend diff's, OT because of the staffing according to the acuity- nurses were called in to work and actually wanted to work because they wanted to help the other nurses on their unit out- there's a novel thought!!),

our retirement benefits improve( although at that time I was still in my 30's and not caring about retirement).

Comparing it the non union poop holes I've worked in since then:

- the disrespect make me want to spit in their faces,

the infighting is hell to even be able to concentrate in. No wonder so many mistakes are made and so many omissions- who can think straight with all this discord.

CNA's performing licensed nurses tasks- check out the other thread where CNA put oxygen on a patient with out telling the nurse about the low pulse ox. The CNA's stating "do it yourself", it's become an insane assylum run by business degrees. The care is down right S****Y. Stop expounding on quality care there is none anymore.

This customer service kiss butt crap is for the birds- I'm all for treating patients with respect and dignity no matter what but this "scripted nonsense"( ADAIT or some such rot, that you don't even get out in a resaurant much less post op throwing up all over the place) has got to go. So now we have ADAIT and crappy care!!

I seriously don't think that there are going to be any older experienced nurse left in nursing once economically thing get just a tad better. I hear more and more each day of older experienced nurses taking non nursing courses in the community colleges to get out of nursing- I being one of them!!! And the younger nurses are getting into these courses also- so where is that leaving the care of these patient's??? "Mr CEO- don you gloves, you got work(real work) to do!!"

kcmylorn · Sep 8, 2012

Never tell/force/order/extort an older experience bedside diploma RN to go back and get their BSN, they take college courses and find out other RN's are taking courses to get out of nursing and asking for suggestions on what field to go into, far away from nursing. Sleep on that all the PTB!!

Ruby Vee, BSN · Sep 8, 2012

Unions lost their effectiveness years ago. Someone has to care for the patients after they've been abandoned by their overly compassionate nurses who are only striking in their own best interests.

Unions are still the best way to negotiate fair salaries, benefits and working conditions. We as nurses provide a vital service and we're entitled to all of the above. If we don't take care of ourselves first, we won't be able to care for anyone else.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Sep 8, 2012

Ok, what is the alternative to strike nurses? If the nurses that are hired to take care of the patients are on strike, who do you suggest take care of the patients ? Shouldnt patient care be the top priority? Or do you think patients should be left to care for themselves during the strike? Confused here.

If the hospital is taking the strike -- and the union -- seriously, provisions will be made for patients. Elective admissions are stopped at a certain date relative to the proposed strike, patients who can be discharged will be, and those who cannot can be transferred. And the rest will be taken care of by management. Most hospitals have a plethora of managers who hold RN licenses and are -- theoretically, of course -- capable of caring for patients. Hiring scabs indicates that the hospital isn't serious about settling a strike, or is trying to bust the union.

mc3, ASN, RN · Sep 8, 2012

Take this as a clue, that the nurses, LPN and RN, need to unionize ASAP!
It is not enough for the only CNAs to be unionized.
Scratch the idea that it is somehow not professional to unionize. Teachers have been unionzed for years. They unionized because they wanted to protect their academic freedom to teach.
Well folks, no one ever died because they could not do long division, or diagram a sentence. But how many patients have died and/or, had bad outcomes from deliberate short staffing in hospitals and nursing homes? The list is too long.
Call NNOC immediateyly. Don't even give it a second thought. The job that you save may be your own!
JMHO and my NY $0.02.
Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Somewhere in the PACNW

Lindarn,

I've looked on the NNOC site you're referring to....evidently they don't want LPN's!....How come?

mc3

BrandonLPN, LPN · Sep 9, 2012

If the hospital is taking the strike -- and the union -- seriously, provisions will be made for patients. Elective admissions are stopped at a certain date relative to the proposed strike, patients who can be discharged will be, and those who cannot can be transferred. And the rest will be taken care of by management. Most hospitals have a plethora of managers who hold RN licenses and are -- theoretically, of course -- capable of caring for patients. Hiring scabs indicates that the hospital isn't serious about settling a strike, or is trying to bust the union.

"theoretically" being the operative word...

dierdrependragon · Sep 9, 2012

WOW, thats really brutal! Unfortunately healthcare strikes that involve direct patient care have GOT to be covered by SOMEONE. A patient is not like a car or some other manufactured item that ceases to need producing during an employee strike. A patient is a HUMAN BEING that has GOT TO BE CARED FOR regardless of any employment issues that may unfortunately be going on in a facility. I feel that in this unique situation calling a fellow nursing proffesional a "scab" is both unnecissary and vulgar. What do you suggest? Do you really think it feasable to leave a critically ill patient laying uncared for in a hospital bed or shall we just send them on home??? A healthcare facility cannot go on paying the exhorbinant cost of replacement nurses during a dispute, so it is certainly in their interest to settle any differences in a timely fashion in order to keep costs down. It is not in there best interest to deny increased benifits to their own staff while they hand out money hand over fist to the replacements they have to ship in. So why all the nasty opinions about these folks that stand in the gap? Are you jealous of the wages they are paid??? Are you just plain unhappy and miserable? What is the real issue here ?

Ruby Vee, BSN · Sep 9, 2012

WOW, thats really brutal! Unfortunately healthcare strikes that involve direct patient care have GOT to be covered by SOMEONE. A patient is not like a car or some other manufactured item that ceases to need producing during an employee strike. A patient is a HUMAN BEING that has GOT TO BE CARED FOR regardless of any employment issues that may unfortunately be going on in a facility. I feel that in this unique situation calling a fellow nursing proffesional a "scab" is both unnecissary and vulgar. What do you suggest? Do you really think it feasable to leave a critically ill patient laying uncared for in a hospital bed or shall we just send them on home??? A healthcare facility cannot go on paying the exhorbinant cost of replacement nurses during a dispute, so it is certainly in their interest to settle any differences in a timely fashion in order to keep costs down. It is not in there best interest to deny increased benifits to their own staff while they hand out money hand over fist to the replacements they have to ship in. So why all the nasty opinions about these folks that stand in the gap? Are you jealous of the wages they are paid??? Are you just plain unhappy and miserable? What is the real issue here ?

The REAL issue is that scab nurses undermine the union's objectives. And I use the term "scab" because that's the term for folks who cross the picket line to do the jobs of folks who are striking.

kcmylorn · Sep 9, 2012

The way I look at it IS from the regular staff's point of view: and I think it is a realistic view. Let's face it, These hospitals ARE NOT loosing money- bottom line. If they were, as they claim they are, then some where alog the line the board of mistrustee or the steakholders or those decision makers( what ever they want to be called this week) would have voted to cut the CEO's compensation along time ago- That too is business!. But they have not. Instead they are taking away from the direct line patient care healthcare workers- the nurses, the case managers, the UM people, the CNA's, Patient care techs, the lab staff, the xray staff to keep this "crying poor" forifice going. If they truely wanted to impress the patient and their family and other future patients with "quality healthcare" they would have done that along time ago too. The money is still coming in from all the usual places. How else could they afford to pay the replacement nurses and other stiking staff the luctitive pay they do- we are talking about $60,$70,$90/hr and in a stike there is always Overtime so that is time and one half!! Do any of the healthcare systems who have gone theough a stike ever have to close their doors onece the stike is settled after paying the replacment workers fees? I don't recall any of them doing it. Kaiser is still in business- isn't it? So the money is there!

They can cry baby all they want about the medicare cuts and charity care hand outs BUT they receive compensation/funding from alot of other sources- the government being one of them- the government gives them funding for charity care through each individual state and then there is the tax write off at the end of the fiscial year. if these hospital money decision makers choose to give the large est part of their funding, income to one big brASS at the top's paycheck then that is the hospital's bad, pee poor traditional, predictable noncreative decision making, that is on them!! You can only spend money once and in one place!!

So let's try this again- and the reason they can't pay their nurses is, WHY.....................?( they seem to have all this money to throw away on one CEO salary and then on replacement nurses salaries but yet don't have the money to compensate their nurses- that doen't make any sense!! unless one has been up drinking all night)

If I am not mistaken and some of the union members can correct me if I am wrong- the hospital has to submit it's financial earning statement to the union at regular intervals. The hospital has to submit a detailed financial statement to the un ion. An when the union officers see that statment, and ask for a raise in compesations- that is when the union gets peed off. The hospital causes it's own problems. It just doesn't or hopes it won't get out to be public knowledge. At least that is what I remember from being a union nurse back in the 90's

kcmylorn · Sep 9, 2012

Union is not all about pay and compensation- they protect workers from "at will" and "that time of managment's monthly menstral cycle" terminations. There guidelines, which are the state department of labor LAWS, that management has to follow to terminate an employee. That is why when one goes to file an unemployment claim, they are scheduled to speak with an investigator who asks the terminated/fired employee why they were terminated and what happened. The managment can call it anything they want- their favorite is "misconduct" that employER has to prove it was ligitimate misconduct- a deliberate act of defiance- usually something very serious- stealing, workplace violence. If an employEE was expected to do something and it didn't get done through no fault of the emploEE- that is not misconduct- that is what the investigator wants to know- did the managment make supplies avail, enough personel avail to get it done, reasonable amount of time to get it done- if not then that is on the management/ aka poor managment practices not the fired employee. There are alot of other issues that managment labels as the employEE's poor performance and misconduct- that lawfully are not. But managment tries to get away with it. The union stops this before it get's this far. If a CNA refuses to do as requested for a certain nurse or nurses and the nurse gets written up because the task doesn't get done or the nurse is constantly getting into overtime because the nurse has to"do it their self" and managment writes up the nurse for excessive OT- that gets look at by the union who goes to the manager and questions the manager- why didn't YOU do your job!! That is why managment doesn't like unions- they have to do their jobs!!

The union also has written rules in the contract against "floating to floors" that nurses should not be floated to- a jeapordy of their license issue. without a union a manager can float a nurse anywhere they please to make thier numbers look good and not have to call another nurse in/pay the called in nurse aka saving money for the "hospital" Kissing administration's backside and making the manager look good come manager bonus time but all the while jeapordizing the nurses license(your liveihood) and patient safety!!

There is whole myriad of events that the unions put a stop to.

If there were more unions in nursing there would not be alot of these horrendous posts of insidents that happen we are reading about on this site.

kcmylorn · Sep 9, 2012

Union is not all about pay and compensation- they protect workers from "at will" and "that time of managment's monthly menstral cycle" terminations. There guidelines, which are the state department of labor LAWS, that management has to follow to terminate an employee. That is why when one goes to file an unemployment claim, they are scheduled to speak with an investigator who asks the terminated/fired employee why they were terminated and what happened. These investigators must go home every day laughing their butts off at some of these managers, and other times may want to wring their bloody necks for contributing to the unemployment rates and the economic state of this country.

The managment can call it anything they want- their favorite is "misconduct" that employER has to prove it was ligitimate misconduct- a deliberate act of defiance- usually something very serious- stealing, workplace violence. If an employEE was expected to do something and it didn't get done through no fault of the emploEE- that is not misconduct but managment will claim it is either becasue they are down right mean and don't like someone for what ever reason or the manager is the dumbest thing on 2 feet- that is what the investigator wants to know- did the managment make supplies avail, enough personnel avail to get it done, reasonable amount of time to get it done- if not then that is on the management/ aka poor managment practices not the fired employee.And to that end- the employEE collects unemployment and the manamgement/EmployER has to shell out $15,000 in my state for that unemployment claim.( good for their stupid butts) There are alot of other issues that managment labels as the employEE's poor performance and misconduct- that"under the law" are not. But managment tries to get away with it. The union stops this before it get's this far. If a CNA refuses to do as requested from a certain nurse or nurses and the nurse gets written up because the task doesn't get done or the nurse is constantly getting into overtime because the nurse has to"do it their self" and managment writes up the nurse for excessive OT or terminates that nurse and the CNA remains employeed- that gets look at by the union who goes to the manager and questions the manager- why didn't YOU do your job!! That is why managment doesn't like unions- they have to do their jobs!!

The union also has written rules in the contract against "floating to floors" that nurses should not be floated to- a jeapordy of their license issue. Without a union, a manager can float a nurse anywhere they please to make" thier" numbers look good and not have to call another nurse in/pay the called in nurse aka saving money for the "hospital" aka Kissing administration's backside and making the manager look good come manager bonus time but all the while jeapordizing the nurses license(your liveihood) and patient safety!! Who gets theeir license taken away if a mistake is made- not the manager. The manager gets monitarily rewarded for crunching the numbers!! and the nurse looses their license!! That is an example of the NURSE manager thinking they are this business mogal and forgetting they too have a NURSing license. That is why I advocate sueing the CEO who creates this climate to insure his/her own payday- the deepest pockets but most over looked and therfore the most negligent. Make these morons take responsibility for their (business) decsions.

There is whole myriad of events that the unions put a stop to.

If there were more unions in nursing there would not be alot of these horrendous posts of insidents that happen we are reading about on this site.

lindarn · Sep 10, 2012

I hope that everyone has read the morning paper, about the Chigago teachers who just went out on strike.

They are striking for pay increases of 20%+, the proposed longer school day, prevention of teachers losing their jobs, etc.

They are striking while the iron is hot, (the first day of school that left 400,000 students out of school for an indefinate period of time.

While that is not the same as walking out and leaving a hospital full of sick and vulnerable patients, it still has serious ramifications for parents who have to work, and now have no place to leave their children, children having their education interrupted due to the strike, etc.

None of the teachers are standing their wringing their guilt ridden hands, apologizing to everyone, sending in teachers to teach students because there is no qualified teacher available to teach the students, (notice that students are not called, "clients or customers), etc.

They rejected, what I think is a very generous offer by the school district to go on strike for what THEY CONSIDER IS A MORE FAIR AND DESERVING CONTRACT!! Imagine that!

How nursing would be so much better off, if nurses took the bull by the horns, and did what WE NEEDED TO DO TO PROVIDE QUALITY CARE FOR OUR PATIENTS, AND A FAIR SALARY AND BENEFITS PACKAGE FOR THE PROFESSIONAL NURSES WHO CARE FOR INDIVIDUALS AT THEIR MOST VULNERABLE TIME!

What is wrong with the nursing profession, that we do not believe that we should belong to a national organization who can live up to OUT EXPECTATIONS, and provide that work environment to be able to do our job professionnally and effectively?

Spare me the, "martry mary", answer. Yes, it is professional to belong to a nursing organization who respesents the BEST INTERESTS OF THE NURSING PROFESSION, which by the way, is also in the best interests in our patients, (not customers or clients).

Food for thought on this Monday morning.

JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN ,BSN ,CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

(CNN) -- Chicago teachers and administrators started talking again Monday, hours after the educators' union called a strike and school officials said they had nothing left to give.

Public school teachers launched their first strike in the city in 25 years Sunday night, saying they were close to a deal on pay but far apart on teacher evaluations, benefits and other issues.

The strike left about 350,000 students with an unscheduled day off, and left some parents scrambling for alternatives.

The school district opened 144 of its 578 schools for part of the day to provide a safe environment and meals to children in need. Dozens of churches and civic organizations stepped in to provide activities for the thousands of suddenly idle students. And police, expecting an uptick in trouble with more kids on the streets, pulled officers from desk duty to increase patrols.

The union that represents nearly 30,000 teachers and support staff in the nation's third-largest school district called the strike after negotiators failed to reach a contract agreement with school administrators despite 10 months of talks.

Union: Chicago teachers to go on strike

Chicago schools 'fiscally challenged'

Opinion: Whole world is watching Chicago

"Negotiations have been intense but productive, but we have failed to reach an agreement that would prevent a labor strike," union President Karen Lewis told reporters late Sunday night.

The primary disagreement appears to be teacher job security after a new evaluation program based on standardized test scores. Chicago Teachers Union board member Jay Rehak called the idea "data-driven madness."

As many as 6,000 teachers could lose their jobs under the evaluation system, according to Lewis, who called the system "unacceptable."

"This is no way to measure the effectiveness of an educator," she said Sunday. "Further, there are too many factors beyond our control which impact how well some students perform on standardized tests such as poverty, exposure to violence, homelessness, hunger and other social issues beyond our control."

Teachers also want to block changes to their health benefits and win concessions on classroom conditions.

Pay is also an issue. However, the union said the two sides are close to a pay agreement after school officials offered a deal that would increase salaries 16% over four years. The average teacher salary in Chicago was $74,839 for the 2011-2012 school year, according to the district.

In addition to the pay increase, the district agreed to increase job opportunities for laid-off teachers, offer paid maternity leave and short-term disability coverage, and freeze health care cost increases for two-thirds of the union's membership.

The high school day would also be shortened slightly, and teachers would be limited to teaching five classes, the district said.

The district's existing proposal would cost $400 million over four years, according to school board President David Vitale.

Key issues in Chicago school strike

Chicago schools can't afford more concessions, Vitale said. "We have no more flexibility when it comes to finance," he told CNN on Monday.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has been harshly criticized by union officials, said the strike was avoidable.

"The kids in Chicago belong in the classroom," he said Sunday night. "Our kids do not deserve this."

Union officials are puzzled by the stance of the city's Democratic mayor, whom they accused of going back on promises to teachers, police officers and other civil servants, according to teachers union board member Jay Rehak.

"He has definitely been a huge disappointment," Rehak said. "He has disrespected virtually every middle-class person in this city."

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, said he had no solution for the crisis but urged a quick resolution.

"Both sides need to get back to the table as quickly as possible and really stay in there, negotiate through the night if necessary," he said Monday. "Get it over with quickly so that we can get these kids back in school."

Read more about teacher unions on CNN's Schools of Thought blog

About 50,000 Chicago students will remain in class. They attend charter schools that are unaffected by the strike.

While keeping 144 of its schools open to provide a haven for part of the day, the school district urged parents "to first explore other options for their children."

"We know that a strike will put a strain on many families, and no one will be hurt more by a strike than our students," the district said on its website.

One of the organizations opening doors for students during the strike is Young Chicago Authors, which has a free program for part of the day for students in grades six through 12.

"In collaboration with core performance artists and special guests, young people will see the power of their voices in action through film, performance and discussion," the group said.

Still, some parents were concerned about what would happen to their children during the strike.

"If the kids are not in school, they're out getting into some kind of trouble ... when they should be in school, learning," said Shatara Scaggs, the mother of two children in kindergarten and first grade. "I think they should be in school getting an education. I don't think the teachers should be on strike."